in collaboration with Josune Urrutia and Leire Vergara

A large textile object, a comic strip, and a research paper constitute the work exhibited at the San Telmo Museum of Basque Society in Donostia/San Sebastián.

A canvas sewn the size of the foresail on the historical ship San Ignacio de Loyola is installed in the museum’s permanent collection (linen, 17,12 x 8,10 m). The historical ship had been constructed
in San Sebastián’s neighbouring Pasaia in 1730 for the trading company Real Compania Guipuzcoana de Caracas and used on the Atlantic route from San Sebastián to colonial Venezuela to transport goods, in particular cocoa.

A leaflet with a visual narrative based on a conversation between Hinrich Sachs and two teenagers about the contemporary San Telmo Museum and its collections relates personal fantasies,
cross-stitch embroideries of the museum, and today’s global production chains of European textile companies. The comic, drawn by illustrator Josune Urrutia, is available to the public
(three colour offset-print, folded to 26,5 x 19,5 cm).

The research paper Espectro textil [Textile Spectrum] by art historian Leire Vergara, elaborates on the meaning of fabrics and motifs in cross-stitch from the Basque region, originating from the 16th to 19th century, the time of the exploitative Spanish colonial rule. The paper is published for download on the museum’s website, according to the museum’s policy in Basque, Spanish, Englisch, and French.

In the constellation of a textile object, a comic strip, and a research paper, No hay puntada sin hilo / There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch addresses the central museological parameters of the originals on display and their accompanying texts, expanding the official narrative and highlighting erasures in history.

The project has been produced by, and is part of the Museo Bikoitza/Double Museum program of annual interventions, initiated in 2019. After having been exhibited from October 2023 til
October 2024, it became part of the museum’s art collection.

Views from the exhibition venues at San Telmo Museum, 2023
The essay Textile Spectrum can also be downloaded below.