NOMAD 2026
Our seventh edition: Celebrating the art in craft.
8th - 12th of May 2026
Reaching its consecutive seventh year, XTANT shifted its annual theme from a focus on internal questions of our origins or the nature of the symbols and traditions we view as second nature to examine the craft, traditions, and practices of production of Nomadic and Pastoralist communities across the world, past and present.
Having been constantly in the throws of the conversation around wool and its waning space in the modern fashion industry, XTANT’s NOMAD 2026 tackled it again from several angles: showcasing and discussing the efforts taken by European shepherds, artisans, carders, and designers to re-incorporate it into their modern artisan work; but also highlighting the care and production practices of extant pastoralist and nomadic communities across America and north Asia.
Along with this shift in topic, NOMAD 2026 transformed Can Vivot’s palace floor with a long and detailed collection of the works of all our artists; blending together techniques and styles completely remote from each other under a grand woven canopy that is formed together from a great many individual strands, giving the main hall a dappled soft lighting. When it wasn’t raining at least.
As with every preceding year, XTANT expands its ‘roster’ yet again. Calling many artists from countries which we’ve never had the chance to include. This year’s edition of XTANT included the work of the incredibly talented Angel Chen from China, A Talk provided by the Mongolian Noble fibre project ‘House of Tengri’, ‘Aurea Fibras Regenerativas’ A North Argentinian brand focused on the textiles and work of native peoples of the area, the traditional Plicopurpura pansa purple dying techniques brought by Jafet Sugia from ‘Pinotepa de Don Luis’, and many many more.
NOMAD 2026’s ARTIST MAP
87 Artists (90 including Team members) from 38 countries
For the first time since we arrived in Mallorca, XTANT was granted for its opening day the historic Castell de Bellver; where, overlooking the city bay from morning to night, XTANT held lov.foudation and Orly Anan’s ‘We Grow in Circles’ peace activation as well ‘Sueños de Lana’ our own comprehensive installation dedicated to the traditions, present challenges, and the ongoing revitalisation projects of Mallorquín wool.
Also new to this year, Can Vivot graciously opened the doors of a larger number of public rooms, giving us the space to finally set about organising curated sections: Halls lined in Menswear inspired from discovered and passed down designs from across the rural traditions of Eastern Europe, beside textured and weighty black and white modern silhouettes made by a North Indian experimental workshop; and whole corridors lined with tapestries from all across the globe in others.
In prior years the sheer volume of artisans meant that we had to pack the space as tightly as we could and these themed or category-separated areas were limited to a single room. But, despite the year’s increase in total artists, the larger event space and our familiarity with Can Vivot let us finally put to test the designs which were long in our heads.
See you next year!
