Visit to the Massana School. Presentation of projects and work by students on the Advanced Vocational Training Course in Textile Art and the University Degree in Arts and Design. We will visit the workshops and see the tapestries woven on cartoons by the painter Antoni Tàpies, which are on display in the centre’s library.

As part of the activities accompanying the opening of TextilFest, the international festival on Contemporary Textile Creation, the Association for Textile Creation (ACT) is offering visits to various workshops, museums and institutions in Catalonia, given its historical links to the textile industry and its fundamental role in contemporary Textile Art. One of these activities will be a visit to the Escola Massana, during which six students from two different study programmes, the Higher Level Training Course in Textile Art and the University Degree in Arts and Design, will present the results of various projects developed in the classroom.

The aim of this activity is to take advantage of the opportunity for students to share their learning processes, research and conclusions with visitors, within a professional framework that promotes intergenerational and intercultural links.

In this way, specific cases in which project-based learning methodologies have been followed will be presented, highlighting the unique characteristics of the Textile Art studies offered at the Escola Massana, which are unique in the region.

The activity, open to anyone interested, will take the form of an open conversation and debate.

Teachers: Silvana Criado, Nuria Bitria y Carla Mañosas.

Students: Raquel Fernández, Mireia García Cunil, Nuria Mauri, Andrea Sanglas y María Viñolo.

Travel to Sant Cugat del Vallés. Lunch.

In Sant Cugar del Vallés, the visit will begin at Casa Aymat, a former manual carpet and tapestry factory, which is considered the cradle of the Catalan Tapestry School since it was run in the 1960s and 1970s by Josep Grau-Garriga, an artist who was part of the movement that broke with the rigid patterns of traditional classical tapestry during those years, making it independent from painting and expanding it into sculpture. We will be able to enjoy a large tapestry by Grau-Garriga that is preserved at the entrance and contemplate the work of some of the artists in residence and one of the historic looms that is currently being put back into operation so as not to lose this rich legacy. We will also probably attend a very interesting presentation on the history of Casa Aymat.

Afterwards, we will visit the exhibition Lebenstrieb – Todestrieb Teixits Pulsionats at the Grau-Garriga Centre for Contemporary Textile Art, located in Cal Quiteria, a 19th-century masía (traditional Catalan house). The exhibition features works by four contemporary textile artists and will be explained by Esther Grau Quintana, curator of the exhibition and daughter of Grau-Garriga.

Visit to Casa Aymat, a former manual carpet and tapestry factory, considered the cradle of the Catalan Tapestry School since it was run in the 1960s and 1970s by Josep Grau-Garriga, an artist who was part of the textile art movement, breaking with the rigid conventions of traditional classical tapestry, separating it from painting and expanding it into sculpture.

Visit to the exhibition Lebenstrieb – Todestrieb Teixits Pulsionats at the Grau-Garriga Centre for Contemporary Textile Art, located in Cal Quiteria, a former 19th-century masía (traditional Catalan house). The exhibition features works by four contemporary textile artists and will be explained by Esther Grau Quintana, curator of the exhibition and daughter of Grau-Garriga. 

Return to Barcelona. Free time.

Guided tour of the Terrassa Documentation Centre and Textile Museum. The tour includes a visit to the library to learn about the IMATEX project and the exhibitions One Museum, a Thousand Modernist Weaves and Where Time Lives by artist Susana Arce, the latter explained by its curator Lala de Dios. 

Guided tour of the Documentation Centre and Textile Museum of Terrassa, known as the Manchester of the Iberian Peninsula. The museum’s origins date back to 1946, when several private collections belonging to wool industrialists were donated, thus creating the first specialised centre of its kind in Spain.

Among other activities, the museum preserves the city’s modernist heritage and offers a large part of its digitised collections (IMATEX project) for consultation by students and researchers. It also regularly offers one of its rooms for exhibiting textile art. On this occasion, the artist Susana Arce is presenting a collection of works in the exhibition Where Time Lives.

Return to Barcelona. Lunch at the Disseny Hub. 

Visit the Matter Matters exhibition at the Disseny Hub. Audio guides are available in several languages. dissenyhub.barcelona.

In Barcelona, visit the Matter Matters exhibition at the Disseny Hub. Through the materiality of the pieces on display, the exhibition reflects on the major challenges facing design today and in the future at a critical time due to the scarcity of raw materials. The exhibition questions the extractivist model that has pursued unlimited growth, leading to the climate emergency and geopolitical conflicts over the control of raw materials, among other systemic crises. Beyond a critical view of the past and present, the exhibition also speaks optimistically about a future that seeks to move towards a regenerative model that not only minimises damage but also actively contributes to the restoration of the planet. To this end, it includes a wide range of alternative proposals that propose new ways of designing with the world in mind, taking into account the impact on humans and non-humans.

Visit to the Trèvol & Roja exhibition by artist Assumpció Espada. Sala de Artesanía Catalunya, C/ Banys Nous 11.

End of the tour. 

Visit the Trèvol & Roja exhibition, explained by the artist herself, Assumpció Espada, who takes two wild plants as her conceptual axis: clover (trifolium) and woad (Rubia tinctoria) to construct a textile universe where nature, memory and craftsmanship intertwine.

The exhibition offers an interpretation of the natural environment as a living archive, using a mixed technique that combines crochet, stitching and photographic impressions of the work’s development.