Exhibitions
Aurèlia Muñoz, one hundred years of a radical look at art and material
MACBA is promoting a major commemorative program with exhibitions, unpublished publications and activities throughout the territory to vindicate a key figure in contemporary art.
Coinciding with the centenary of the birth of Aurèlia Muñoz Ventura (Barcelona, 1926–2011), MACBA is promoting a broad commemorative program that vindicates the pioneering and visionary role of one of the most unique figures in contemporary art. The anniversary has been declared an Official Commemoration of the Generalitat de Catalunya and is articulated through a long-term project led by the Barcelona museum with the support of a curatorial team and a constellation of cultural institutions.
The symbolic starting point of the centenary is April 13, 2026, the exact date of the artist's birth. Since that day, the atrium of the Meier Building at MACBA has hosted three reconstructions of the emblematic Starbirds , pieces created in the early 1980s and exhibited in institutions such as the Palacio de Cristal in Madrid, the Drassanes Reials in Barcelona and the International Tapestry Biennale in Lausanne. Its initial installation opens the program to the public and connects directly with the experimental dimension of his work.
View of the MACBA atrium with one of the Star Birds installed on the occasion of the Centenary of Aurèlia Muñoz. Photo: Roberto Ruiz.
One of the central moments of the commemoration will be the institutional event scheduled for April 25 at MACBA, which will bring together representatives from the cultural and institutional world. This meeting will present the entire Centenary program, which extends beyond Barcelona with activities distributed across different cultural facilities in the territory, an international symposium and lines of research that expand the critical reading of his work.
The project will culminate with the major retrospective exhibition Aurèlia Muñoz. Ens , considered the central axis of the commemoration. Produced by MACBA and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the exhibition will travel between Madrid and Barcelona. It can be visited in the Spanish capital from April 29 to September 7, 2026, while it will arrive at MACBA from November 5, 2026 to March 29, 2027. Despite sharing a corpus, the Barcelona presentation will include a specific museography and the incorporation of drawings and restored models from the Aurèlia Muñoz Archive, previously unpublished.
In parallel with the exhibitions, a volume of the same name will be published, Aurèlia Muñoz. Ens , co-edited with the MNCARS. The book incorporates previously unpublished documentary materials and essays by international specialists, offering a new critical look at her career and delving into the richness of an artistic practice that crossed disciplines, techniques and languages without ever submitting to a single label.
The centenary program also includes an international symposium, scheduled for November at MACBA under the title Resonances and Confluences , which will bring together researchers and specialists from around the world to explore the artist's legacy and its connections to contemporary debates about art, matter and space.
Beyond her production, the project emphasizes the collaborative dimension that marked Aurèlia Muñoz's career. Architects, photographers, designers, craftsmen and critics formed part of a creative network that dialogued closely with her research on materials, volumes and techniques, consolidating a deeply experimental and open work.
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