On the weekend of 9, 10 and 11 October, the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (mNACTEC) is staging open days and a range of free activities to mark the celebration of the 2015 European Heritage Days. The initiatives on offer include this year in particular the dance show Big Bounce-Site Specific, the tour "The Hidden Treasures of the mNACTEC", the demonstration of antique vehicles in operation on the Museum Courtyard and the dramatised visits "1910. A Stroll around the Factory".
The European Heritage Days are staged every year in Europe over a weekend in September or October, and this time around invite us to discover and promote our industrial heritage.
Entrance to the Museum will be free of charge throughout the weekend. The open days begin on Friday, 9 October, from 10:00 to 19:00, continuing on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11, from 10:00 to 14:30. The scheduled activities at the mNACTEC have limited capacity, and prior booking is recommended via activitats.mnactec@gencat.cat.
PROGRAMME
Dramatised and guided tours
On Saturday 10 October at 12:00 and 13:00 hours, the Museum offers the dramatised tour "1910. A Stroll around the Factory". The activity is an invitation to explore the old sections of the Museum, and to discover, courtesy of historical figures, the wool production process and the daily life of the men and women who worked there in the early 20th century.
On Sunday 11 October, at 10:00 and 11:00 the guided tour "The Hidden Treasures of the mNACTEC", courtesy of conservator-restorer Mercè Gual, will feature areas of the Museum that are not normally accessible, such as the vaults of the roof, the storerooms where items from the collection that are not on display are kept, and the restoration workshop.
Dance performance with the Big Bouncers group
The programme continues on Sunday at 12:00, with the dance performance Big Bounce-Site Specific. The Big Bouncers group present a show focused on the relationship between movement, words and the Vapor Aymerich, Amat i Jover building, which is now the home to the mNACTEC.
The Big Bounce-Site Specific show has been staged by the group at such other cultural facilities as the MACBA art gallery, the Casa Elizalde and La Pedrera. On this occasion, the specific features of the building housing the mNACTEC and its origins provide the starting point to unleash an imaginary world on which a specific, unique and never to be repeated creation is built up.
Big Bouncers was founded in 2012 with the aim of exploring and extending performance idioms and generating their own working methodology.The artistic collective brings together three independent creative minds, Cecilia Colacrai, Anna Rubirola and Mireia Querol, and received the Newcomer Applause award at the FAD Sebastià Gasch Para-theatrical Arts Awards in 2015.
Demonstration of antique vehicles in operation
On Sunday, at 13:00 visitors will have the chance to enjoy a demonstration of antique vehicles in operation on the courtyard of the Museum. A number of vehicles dating from the first half of the 20th century will be started up, such as the Hispano Suiza Alfons XIII, a Model T Ford and Afa prototype.
The mNACTEC
The Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia is one of the three national museums recognised by the Catalan Parliament. Its mission is to provide a permanent exhibition of the implementation and evolution of scientific and technological advances in Catalonia, their industrial application, and above all their social implications and impact.
The main site of the mNACTEC is in Terrassa, in one of the most emblematic manufacturing buildings of the Catalan modernist movement: the Vapor Aymerich, Amat i Jover, a former textile factory designed by the architect Lluís Muncunill and built between 1987 and 1908.
05/10/2015
9 October 2015
