On the occasion of the centennial of the birth of Aurèlia Muñoz Ventura (1926–2011), a constellation of cultural institutions in Catalonia come together to celebrate one of the most distinctive artists of the 20th century. Over the course of a year, beginning on April 13, 2026, coinciding with the artist’s birthday, various cultural events will take place around her practice. The programme will include multiple presentations of Muñoz’s work across different locations, as well as an extensive series of talks and workshops that open access to the complex universe of one of the great Catalan creators of recent history.
Within this commemoration, two major institutional exhibitions stand out as the backbone of the programme: Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (from April 29 to September 7, 2026), which inaugurates the exhibition itinerary, and subsequently Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (from November 5, 2026 to March 29, 2027). Both exhibitions include the participation of einaidea, which contributes to the conceptual development and research around the artist’s work, reinforcing the collective and transdisciplinary dimension of the project.
Aurèlia Muñoz Ventura was born in Barcelona on April 13, 1926 and, after dedicating more than five decades to artistic practice across multiple media, she is now recognised as a key figure in understanding the evolution of contemporary art in our time. This commemoration highlights the pioneering and visionary role of an artist whose work—primarily sculptural but also painterly and graphic—revisited and transformed ancestral techniques such as embroidery, knotting (or macramé), and papermaking, in dialogue with the artistic avant-gardes of her time, while also building connections between disciplines such as art, architecture, theatre, and engineering. Her work reveals a committed perspective that anticipated eco-social concerns such as material sustainability and interspecies relationships, as well as the importance of diversity and poetics as links between artistic production and life.
The project has been curated by the einaidea platform, under the scientific direction of Manuel Cirauqui and with the collaboration of Rosa Lleó, curator and regular collaborator at einaidea, and Silvia Ventosa Muñoz, a conservator specializing in textiles and head of the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive. Likewise, the collaborative framework proposed by einaidea has allowed for the creation of a Scientific Committee to advise the curatorial team and the museum staff. Members of this committee include Emma Ingala, professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, Complutense University of Madrid; María Elena del Solar, anthropologist and expert in textiles from Andean and Amazonian contexts; Victòria Rabal, artist and director of the Museu Molí Paperer de Capellades; Ana Roquero, a pioneering researcher at the intersection of ethnobotany and textile techniques; and Josefina Salazar, artisan and longtime collaborator of Muñoz.
The exhibition Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings is accompanied by an ambitious publication that includes a significant number of previously unpublished images, along with essays by Manuel Cirauqui, Rosa Lleó, and Silvia Ventosa Muñoz. These are joined by guest authors Melody Jue, Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA); and Ana Maria Ramo Affonso, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Social Anthropology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil). The volume also includes critical apparatus to which Mireia Molina Costa, researcher, artist, and collaborator with einaidea, and Daniela Herrera, recipient of the first research grant established by einaidea thanks to the support of the two institutions co-organizing this exhibition, contributed.