Textiles Semillas
A Living Project of Weaving and Cultural Bridging
Textiles Semillas began as an artistic project aimed at bridging different worlds through exchanges revolving around the practice of weaving and its meanings. Today, it is a union of weavers, artists, and activists, the Union Textiles Semillas (a collective of female weavers, artists, and activists from Northern Argentina), bringing together around 300 weavers from twelve groups of weavers from northern Argentina. This union, initiated by intergenerational groups of women within the framework of the Textiles Semillas project, proposes new ways of doing and learning collectively and interculturally. This approach takes shape in the creation of collective works where meanings are reassembled and cohabitation becomes a conscious practice.
In the first stage of Textiles Semillas, in early 2023, a series of journeys called pilgrimages were carried out. During these travels through mountains, valleys, and ravines, the communities of the groups invited to be part of this initiative were visited: Randeras de El Cercado (Monteros, Tucumán), Warmipura (Tafí del Valle, Tucumán), Cooperativa La Pachamama (Amaicha del Valle, Tucumán), Tejedoras de Quilmes (Quilmes, Tucumán), Tinku Kamayu (Santa María, Catamarca), Mercedes Cardozo de Achalay Tejidos (Niogasta, Simoca, Tucumán), Teleras de Atamisqui (Atamisqui, Santiago del Estero), Teleras de Huilla Catina (Huilla Catina, Santiago del Estero), Tejedores Andinos (Huacalera, Jujuy), Flor en Piedra (Caspalá, Jujuy), Flor de Altea (Santa Ana, Jujuy), and Silät (Santa Victoria Este, Salta). Curators Andrei Fernández and Alejandra Mizrahi coordinated the in-person events in Argentina and the communication with and among the weaver collectives.
Participants
Randeras de El Cercado (Monteros, Tucumán), Warmipura (Tafí del Valle, Tucumán), Cooperativa La Pachamama (Amaicha del Valle, Tucumán), Tejedoras de Quilmes (Quilmes, Tucumán), Tinku Kamayu (Santa María, Catamarca), Mercedes Cardozo de Achalay Tejidos (Niogasta, Simoca, Tucumán), Teleras de Atamisqui (Atamisqui, Santiago del Estero), Teleras de Huilla Catina (Huilla Catina, Santiago del Estero), Tejedores Andinos (Huacalera, Jujuy), Flor en Piedra (Caspalá, Jujuy), Flor de Altea (Santa Ana, Jujuy), and Silät (Santa Victoria Este, Salta), Gabriela Cisterna, Celeste Valero, Milagros Colodrero, Fernanda Villagra Serra, Claudia Alarcón, Anabel Luna, Carla Abiles, Tatiana Beltomonte, Clara Johnston, Santiago Azzati, Victoria Pastrana, Alina Bardavid, Alvaro Simon Padrós.
Andrei Fernández is a curator, intercultural promoter, and freelance researcher, working on projects linked to the social economy and contemporary art. She proposes collaborations between artists, activists, and researchers from different territories and communities. She has curated several visual arts exhibitions in museums, galleries, and independent spaces in Argentina, Germany, Paraguay, Portugal, and the UK. She coordinated the exhibition project La escucha y los vientos presented at ifa-Galerie in Berlin (2020), at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Salta, and at the Museo del Barro/Fundación Migliorisi in Asunción (2021). She was the curator of the 110th Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales at the Palais de Glace, organized by the Argentine Ministry of Culture (2022). She completed a curatorial residency at the Delfina Foundation, London, with a grant from the Bridges Programme of the Argentine Embassy in the UK and the Anglo-Argentine Society (2023). She accompanies the weavers’ collective of the Wichí people, Silät which are presented in the 60th International Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia. She works with Cecilia Brunson Projects gallery, with the 99 Questions programme, and is part of FACT, Fundación para el Arte Contemporáneo de Tucumán. She lives in the north of Argentina.
Alejandra Mizrahi graduated from the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán with a B.A. in Fine Art, and holds a PhD in Philosophy from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. She teaches Fashion and Textile design at the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Since 2012, Alejandra works with the Randeras community of El Cercado. Part of this work was published in RandAcerca (2020) and Randa: tradición y diseño tucumanos en diálogo (2013). In 2017, 2018 and 2019, she participated in Katsuhiko Hibino’s Turn Project within the framework of BienalSur. She completed artistic residencies in multiple cities, including Curadora, San José del Rincón, Santa Fe (2014), Savvy Contemporary, Berlin (2016), and Teatro Tiempo Munar, Buenos Aires (2021). Her latest solo exhibitions include: Arrasteras, Galería Aldo de Sousa 2023 (curated by Carlos Herrera), Placer y beneficio, Museo de las Mujeres Córdoba 2023 (curated by L. Del Barco y C. Salomón), Gimnasio blando, Munar 2021 (curated by Intemperie). Collective exhibitions include: Adentro no hay más que una morada, MAMBA 2021 (curated by Alejandra Aguado), Contrareloj, Munar-Intemperie 2022 (curated by Leandro Martínez de Pietri), (h)usos del mundo, Fundación Osde 2022 (collective, curated by Carolina Cuervo). Her work is in the collections of Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires and Palais de Glace, and as well as several private collections. She is part of the staff of the gallery Intemperie.
Michael Dieminger’s practice as a curator and filmmaker is deeply rooted in Visual Anthropology, Sensory Media, and Urban Studies. His work is dedicated to exploring the ecologies of knowledge, the pluriverse, diverse epistemologies, and practices of care and world-making by both human and non-human actors. Currently, Michael is a curator and scientific advisor at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. In this role, he leads the para-institutional project 99 Questions. This artistic-research initiative encompasses a rich array of research nodes, gatherings, workshops, talks, residencies, podcasts, and more. It brings together an inspiring group of artists, thinkers, and practitioners including Chao Tayiana Maina, Molemo Moiloa, Ciraj Rassool, Denilson Baniwa, Gabriela do Matos, Hadji Malick Ndiaye, Macarena Gómez-Barris, Magdalena Campos-Pons, Malcom Ferdinand, Oulimata Gueye, Temi Odumosu, The Nest Collective, Zoé Samudzi, Claudia Alarcón and Silät, and Rolando Vázquez, among others. As a curator, Michael has worked with or contributed to projects at institutions such as the GRASSI Museum in Germany, Whitworth Art Gallery in the UK, DocsDF Film Festival in Mexico, Delfina Foundation in the UK, or MUAC Mexico City, among others. He taught seminars at the University of Vienna and the Latin American Institute at the Freie Universität Berlin. Michael holds a M.A. from the University of Manchester in Visual Anthropology and Sensory Media and a B.A. in Urban Studies from the University of the Bauhaus Universität and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Additionally, he is a trained tool mechanic.