Aurèlia Muñoz. Textile as a pretetx

As part of the Year of Aurèlia Muñoz, the Museu del Disseny – DHub presents an exhibition dedicated to the artist’s early textile works. Muñoz was a key figure in the renewal of contemporary textile art in Catalonia and in bringing it to an international audience.

The exhibition brings together three works from the Museu’s collection that offer an insight into an early yet decisive period in Muñoz’s career: the 1961 tapestry La Barcelona gòtica, made from printed hessian, and two table covers from 1962, designed by the artist and screen-printed by José Duran onto jute hessian. These works reveal her early interest in the expressive qualities of materials and textures, and in the creative possibilities of working with textiles.

Having studied at the Escola d’Arts Aplicades and the Escola Massana in Barcelona, Aurèlia Muñoz Ventura (Barcelona, 1926–2011) developed an artistic practice spanning more than five decades, during which she revitalised traditional techniques such as embroidery, knotting (or macramé) and papermaking, bringing them into dialogue with the avant-garde movements of her time. In 2026, the Government of Catalonia is marking the centenary of her birth with a year-long programme celebrating her pioneering and visionary role in contemporary art.

These works from the 1960s offer a glimpse of the point at which Muñoz began to explore the symbolic and structural potential of hessian and other fibre-based materials. As part of the Year of Aurèlia Muñoz, it is worth noting that the artist began working with hessian around 1960, a decision that would prove to be the catalyst for her exploration of contemporary textile art.

The exhibition complements the major exhibition Aurèlia Muñoz. Ents, which will be on show at Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) over the same period, and gives visitors the opportunity to discover some of the early work of an artist who transformed textiles into a radical, poetic and profoundly contemporary field of experimentation.

The Year of Aurèlia Muñoz is organised by MACBA, with the backing of the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, in collaboration with the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive.
Scientific advisers: einaidea (Eina Foundation, Barcelona), under the direction of Manuel Cirauqui.