Our Waste, Our Responsibility
A collective action
Oslo City Hall · March 7
Free entrance 11:00-16:00
Public Engagement 13:00-15:00
Light refreshments provided.
re-(t)exHile Oslo invites you to join a collective action against the global crisis of overproduction.
The different textile pieces sewn from second hand clothing with collaborators from Oslo, Alto Hospicio, Trnava and Lagos will cover the floor, making visible the many stories, geographies, conflicts, and collective labor that shaped it. Visitors are invited to step onto the carpet, gather, sit, and reclaim Oslo City Hall — a space dedicated to public responsibility, dialogue, and decision-making.
The public program begins at 13:00 with an action / performative gesture that traces the journey of discarded clothing, highlighting the urgent issues of textile waste and fast fashion’s global impact. Following this, visitors are invited to contribute directly to the textile piece by sewing or adding fabric scraps, a collective act of reflection and responsibility. The work remains accessible for participation throughout the day.
Join Us to Reclaim, Reuse, Rethink
We gather to take a stand, and your presence matters. Because textile waste is not “somewhere else” — it is here: in our cities, our policies, our wardrobes, and our futures.
Textile waste is not abstract.
Discarded clothing from Europe and the Global North contributes to severe environmental damage, unsafe living conditions, and public health crises across multiple regions in the Global South. What is thrown away here does not disappear — it is displaced. And this displacement is not accidental; it is systemic.
The event will be photographed and filmed.
About the project
re-(t)exHile is an artistic research project that examines the environmental, socio-cultural, and economic impacts of textile overproduction from fast fashion. Born out of the 2024 Lagos Biennial, re-(t)exHile began with a large-scale textile installation created from nearly 500 second-hand garments sourced from Katangua Market in Lagos, Nigeria, and continued with communities in Trnava, Slovakia, Oslo and in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Through a collaborative sewing process with local participants in each region, the work becomes both a material and symbolic gesture of repair. At Rådhuset, the pieces are finally brought together.
re-(t)exHile is created and led by Martinka Bobrikova, Maria Alejandra Gatti, and Oscar de Carmen, in collaboration with local partners in each location. The Oslo-based collaborators include: Sydilla Bjørvika, Sydilla Romsås, Atelier Sygruppe Ensjø, MIN (Mangfold og inkluderingsnettverk), Nabolagshuset Trosterud, Sy om og sy med / St. Hanshaugen Frivilligsentral, Ullern kultursenter, United Sisters / Forandringshuset Grønland, Hersleb videregående skole, Einar Granum Kunstfagskole, RELOVE, Oslo National Academy of the Arts / Art and Craft.
* The town hall is equipped with lifts. You can bring your own walkers and wheelchairs.
download the brochure here