Aurèlia Muñoz. Resonance and Confluence
Over two days and coinciding with the major retrospective exhibition Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings, experts from various fields will address the practice of this great Catalan artist, building bridges between disciplines and opening new avenues of study.
Anticipating contemporary forms and sensibilities – from the ontological turn to ecofeminism and new crafts – Aurèlia Muñoz was interested in disciplines such as philosophy, architecture and poetry. Her work has evoked resonances and confluences that continue to influence artistic practice today. This symposium is a continuation of the re-reading process initiated by the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive, in conjunction with the research platform einaidea, and within the framework of the exhibition
Over the course of two days – and within the context of the major retrospective exhibition Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings – specialists from various fields will examine the practice of this prominent Catalan artist, building bridges between disciplines and opening new avenues for research.
Anticipating contemporary forms and sensibilities – from the ontological turn to ecofeminism and new craft practices – Aurèlia Muñoz engaged with fields such as philosophy, architecture and poetry. Her work has sparked resonances and confluences that can still be felt in artistic practice today. This symposium continues the process of re-evaluation initiated by the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive, in collaboration with the research platform einaidea, through the exhibition.Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings
This symposium brings together Esther Rivas Adrover, Laía Argüelles Folch, Sophie Desrosiers, Emma Ingala Gómez, Tim Ingold, Violeta Mayoral and Mireia Molina Costa.
PROGRAMME
Thursday, 5 November, 17:30 – 21:00 h
17:45 – 18:15 h
Mireia Molina Costa, Tablatures
This performance presents a live version of the sound project in which Molina Costa engages with MACBA’s galleries during the exhibition Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings. Her research draws from the gestures, rhythms and material relationships that define Muñoz’s working process: the repetition of knots and needlework, the creation of pieces without a warp, the dialogue between natural and artificial materials, the deliberate slowness of embroidery and working with wet and dry paper. Furthermore, it seeks to establish a dialogue between Muñoz’s working notes and sketches and various animal, mythological and popular languages; elements to which her own work frequently responds or alludes.
18:15 – 18:30 h
Introduction to the event by Manuel Cirauqui, Sílvia Ventosa and Rosa Lleó
18:30 – 19:15 h
Emma Ingala, Aurèlia Muñoz and Minor Ontologies
By interweaving feminist and neo-materialist perspectives – drawing on thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze, Karen R. Barad and Elizabeth Grosz – philosopher Emma Ingala outlines a critical, open-ended methodology for understanding the ‘beings’ created by Aurèlia Muñoz, as well as their presence and materiality.
19:15 – 19:30 h
[Break]
19:30 – 20:15 h
Esther Rivas Adrover, Transformable and Experimental Architecture as a Framework for Research
At the intersection of design, architecture and art, Esther Rivas Adrover explores transformable structures and their potential, both for speculative inquiry and for the redefinition of spatial experience. Her interpretation of Aurèlia Muñoz’s work, viewed alongside pioneers of experimental architecture such as Frei Otto and Kenneth Snelson, highlights a tacit dialogue between sculpture and textile design, establishing connections through their volumetric and dynamic dimensions.
20:15 – 21:00 h
Laía Argüelles Folch, A Knot Without Resolution. A Conjectural Reading in 38 Gestures
As an artist and writer, Laía Argüelles Folch engages in a sustained, delicate observation of paper, a porous, sensitive and reactive medium that archives gestures, nuances, folds and signs. Within this space, she enters into a complicit encounter with the work of Aurèlia Muñoz, whose creative processes fuse material experimentation with the generation of an imaginary ecosystem.
Friday, 6 November, 17:00 – 21:00 h
17:15 – 17:30 h
Introduction to the event by Manuel Cirauqui, Sílvia Ventosa and Rosa Lleó
17:30 – 18:15 h
Sophie Desrosiers, Aurèlia Muñoz and the Andean Conception of Textiles as Living Beings
As evidenced by her research and the titles of some of her works, Aurèlia Muñoz was greatly interested in Andean textile creations and techniques. Beyond the explicit interest demonstrated by her quipus, Desrosiers explores the connection between Muñoz’s ‘beings’ and the Andean view of textiles as living beings, comparing her practice to that of other Western artists, such as Anni Albers and Sheila Hicks, who were also profoundly influenced by pre-Columbian cosmologies and traditions.
18:15 – 19:15 h
Tim Ingold, The Line, the Knot, and the Fold: Reflections on the Textile Art of Aurèlia Muñoz
What if the world were not built from blocks but woven from threads? What if the things we find there were put together, like a patchwork, from parts that were never meant to fit but which find joy in each other’s company? And what if these things could take flight, with our own thoughts or prayers, like a kite or a bird? In his presentation, anthropologist and essayist Tim Ingold explores these questions by way of a correspondence with Aurèlia Muñoz’s Beings.
19:15 – 19:30 h
[Break]
19:30 – 20:45 h
Closing roundtable, featuring Laía Argüelles Folch, Sophie Desrosiers, Emma Ingala, Tim Ingold and Esther Rivas Adrover; chaired by Manuel Cirauqui, Sílvia Ventosa and Rosa Lleó
20:45 – 21:00 h
Violeta Mayoral, Do2
As a conclusion to the symposium, Violeta Mayoral will engage in a dialogue with Aurèlia Muñoz through sound and acoustics, activating the architecture of the MACBA Atrium, a space where several of Muñoz’s Birds-Kites are currently on display. The exploration of spatiality, central to Mayoral’s most recent research, fosters a dialogue with these textile pieces suspended in the space: works that the Catalan artist herself understood as elements that were both sensitive and reactive to their architectural context. Through a spatial reorganisation of the act of listening, Do2 takes the form of a sonic event that explores, through attack and decay, how spatiality can decentre the aural experience of bodies, reorienting their interiority toward the world.
Patricia Castro: Piccolo
Barbara Held and Judith Solé: Flutes
Laura Diaz and Aina Costa-Pau: Oboes
Mª Carmen García: Clarinet
Carlos Santos: Saxophone
Mateo Benguría: Trumpets
Maitane Beaumont and Julio Argudo Mielgo: Violins
Manuel Lallana Babiloni and Violeta Mayoral: Score and direction of musicians
