Aurèlia Muñoz "Pájaro-cometa B2", 1982. MACBA Collection. Deposit of the Generalitat of Catalonia. Heirs of Aurèlia Muñoz. Photo: Josep Gri
Exhibition
From 5 November 2026 to 29 March 2027
Aurèlia Muñoz. Ens
coming soon
Aurèlia Muñoz. Ens traces a comprehensive journey through the work of a figure absolutely critical to understanding contemporary textile art both inside and outside Catalonia.
Muñoz’s early collages and assemblages, with surrealist and gothic influences, and her large-scale pictorial embroideries will give way to a previously unseen selection of large macramé structures from institutional collections in Spain, Europe and the United States. The iconic kite-sculptures and the latest installations made with handmade paper will also have a feature prominently in the exhibition, which also includes a vast selection of drawings and models that have never been shown before.
Despite the artist’s initial links to movements such as the Nouvelle Tapisserie and the Catalan Tapestry School, Muñoz’s practice transcends the boundaries of weaving, fibre and craftsmanship. Combining ancestral techniques and contemporary resources, Muñoz responded to the incipient crises of the post-industrial world, paying attention to the impact on terrestrial, aquatic and aerial ecosystems, which emerge as major motifs in her output.
The title of the exhibition, Aurèlia Muñoz. Ens refers to one of the fundamental concepts in the artist’s work. The proposal covers more than fifty years of her multifaceted practice, offering unprecedented insight and opening up new perspectives on her unique legacy. The retrospective is organised by MACBA with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) in Madrid and has been conceived as a choral project by the research platform einaidea (Fundación Eina, Barcelona) in close dialogue with the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive. Under the scientific direction of Manuel Cirauqui, director of einaidea, the project is coordinated by Rosa Lleó, Curator and associate researcher at einaidea; Silvia Ventosa Muñoz, head of the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive and curator specialising in textiles; and Aída Roger, assistant curator at MACBA.
An innovative catalogue will accompany the show, with contributions from guest authors including Melody Jue, theorist and Professor at the University of California; and Ana Ramo, Spanish-Brazilian anthropologist and academic, as well as an updated documentary apparatus that will serve as a definitive reference for the historiography of the artist.
Aurèlia Muñoz. Ens also boasts an interdisciplinary Scientific Committee comprising Emma Ingala, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; María Elena del Solar, PhD in anthropology and expert on textiles in the Andean context; Victòria Rabal, artist and director of the Molí Paperer Museum in Capellades, Lleida; Elvira Dyangani Ose, director of MACBA; and Manuel Segade, director of the Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid.
The exhibition, which will also be on view at MNCARS from 28 April to 7 September, is one of the proposals of the commemorative programme of the Year of Aurèlia Muñoz. The full programme, led by MACBA is coordinated with einaidea and the Archive of Aurèlia Muñoz and supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
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Exhibition organised by MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and curated by einaidea (Fundació Eina, Barcelona), under the scientific direction of Manuel Cirauqui and with the participation of Rosa Lleó, curator and researcher associated with einaidea, and Sílvia Ventosa Muñoz, head of the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive and curator specialising in textiles.
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Co-produced by MACBA and the MNCARS, in collaboration with Fundación EINA and the Archivo Aurèlia Muñoz.
MACBA Thirty
We celebrate Year Thirty of an infinite MACBA that projects the future as a space for revision and possibility: of taking up what was left unfinished, updating what needs it and projecting anew everything that can still be transformed.
