WOOL meets Roubaix 2016

Covilhã and Roubaix have been twin cities since the year 2000. The two cities have a history strongly connected to the wool industry, with many Covilhã natives emigrating to Roubaix during the 1960s and 1970s.

This connection to a shared past initiated a collaboration between WOOL and the Le Non Lieu cultural space to create projects that could focus on the connection between the two cities.

Some of the artists who participated in WOOL in Covilhã also participated in the “#XU – Experiences Urbaines” festival in Roubaix. In October of 2016, Samina and Tamara Alves created two panels at the Le Non Lieu production plant. The following year, they were both exhibited in the main entrance of the Roubaix Municipal Council building.

The artists and Pedro Seixo Rodrigues visited various locations during their time in the city. The most powerful was their visit to the Covilhã Sporting Club de Roubaix, where they met former Covilhã-native threaders who had gone to Roubaix to work and ended up staying.