The National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC) presents the first unit in the creative production Weaving history, a project which addresses and invites visitors to question the past, present and future of the Catalan textiles industry, through a reflective and experimental approach. The project centres on such concepts as efficiency, innovation, sustainability, recycling, technology, sociability and gender. The initiative has been devised and designed by Sol Roig Projectes and Magem Torrella Associats.
The production involves the Terrassa Documentation Centre and Textile Museum, and comprises eight units. The first unit is being presented at the MNACTEC: Weaving history: from factory towns to research, highlighting the role of women in the history of textiles.
In this regard, the MNACTEC unit sets out the eyewitness accounts of women who have experienced or researched the work done by the female employees of textile factory towns, the fact that women make up 80% of the global labour force in the textiles sector, and the reality of exploitation seen today in the global South. The aim of the assemblage at the MNACTEC is to give an insight into the experience of the first female engineers and technical staff in the sector, and the work now being done in research, management, communication and awareness-raising in the textiles industry.
It features accounts from five women of different ages, experiences and specialist fields connected with the textiles industry: Conxa Bayó, technical textiles engineer; Virgínia García, director of the Eurecat Technological Functional Fabrics Unit; Eva Domènech, technical industrial textiles engineer and head of the Sustainability Department at Lola Casademunt; Nadège Seguin, coordinator of Fashion Revolution Spain; and Cristina Sabadell, founder of Vegtus.
Within the context of this first unit, on 14 December the MNACTEC will be hosting a roundtable discussion featuring these five protagonists, who will be talking about their own experience, and what they believe should be the new challenges in the textiles sector, and the accompanying social changes.
The remaining seven units will subsequently be made available to the public, at the Terrassa Documentation Centre and Textiles Museum and at the museums and sites belonging to the MNACTEC Territorial Structure.
24 November 2023
