The international art project re-(t)exHile comes to Trnava to spark a discussion about what happens to our clothes once we stop wearing them. The artistic collective of Martinka Bobrikova, Oscar de Carmen & María Alejandra Gatti presents an exhibition that addresses textile waste, the ecological crisis, and global inequality. The project was created in response to the growing problems of the textile industry—its environmental impact, overproduction, and the unsustainable distribution of used garments, which often end up in countries of the Global South. The first phase of the project took place in 2024 at the biennale in Lagos, Nigeria, where a large-scale installation was created from more than 500 pieces of secondhand clothing.
The Trnava version of the installation is adapted to the Slovak context. The artistic team researched local recycling processes and collaborated with community initiatives such as Baterkáreň and students from the School of Design – Bohumil Bača Private Secondary School of Applied Arts. The result is a new textile object made from clothing collected through an open call and sewn collectively during a workshop. The exhibition also includes video documentation from Nigeria and Slovakia, showing how textile waste travels the world—and what impact it leaves behind. re-(t)exHile is not only an art project but a call to change. We reflect, create, sew, recycle—and ask: What is still material, and what is already waste? Can textiles have a second life—and can we develop a new relationship with the world through them?
Special thanks to:
Dalibor Bača, Amália Cvengrošová, Miroslav Futrikanič, Simona Hlaváčová, Marianna Kajabová, Anastasya Kizilova, Michaela Karbanová, Naya Kleinert, Jana Kolenová, Monika Kováčová, Zuzana Pastirčák Duchová, Juraj Plesník, Lenka Pšenčíková, Vivien Pomajbo, Jana Reháková, Alexandra Šebo, Žaneta Štrbková, Marek Tanka, Lujza Taligová, Henrieta Tholt, Ľubica Vargová. Baterkáreň, School of Design – Private Secondary School of Applied Arts, Natur Pack, PR Krajné, s. r. o., SK-TEX, s. r. o.
This project was made possible with the public support of the Embassy of Spain in Slovakia.