We are delighted to present a solo exhibition of work by leading visual and performance artist Mercedes Azpilicueta, originally from Buenos Aires, now based in Amsterdam. This will be her first solo exhibition in Scotland.
Fire on the Mountain, Light on the Hill will also form part of Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF)’s programme, taking place from 7 – 24 August 2025.
Azpilicueta’s work is committed to an exploration of care and resistance, often considering and revealing less well-known stories from history, and platforming the role of women who have made a difference in the past, and who continue to inspire in the present.
For this show, she brings these subjects together in a presentation centred on a major work entitled ‘Potatoes, Riots and Other Imaginaries’ (2021). This mixed media installation weaves together historic and contemporary themes – inspired by the artist’s research of the 1917 Potato Riots in the Jordaan neighbourhood of Amsterdam, directly organised by working class women of this community in response to the extreme food shortages they faced during the First World War. The show also references contemporary collective action in the form of Ni Una Menos – the feminist grass roots social movement in Argentina, that campaigns against gender based violence, in which Azpilicueta has played an active role since 2015.
Presented in our City Dome Gallery, the installation will be presented in an expanded form – featuring the central monumental human-scale Jaquard tapestry. Sculptural elements reference items of clothing, tools, or utensils associated with labour and a sound piece introduces whispered gossip and glimpses of songs from social demonstrations. The tapestry’s rich and layered collage of archival and contemporary imagery references subjects including war, food economies, collective action and women-led global rights movements.
A newly commissioned performance on Friday 22 August will be central to the presentation, connecting the themes of the tapestry to Collective’s site on Calton Hill. Azpilicueta has come together with award winning, Edinburgh based artist and choreographer Janice Parker to devise this live event along with other Scottish performers. The exhibition will present drawings relating to the choreography and costumes that will be worn as part of the performance for Edinburgh Art Festival’s closing weekend.
Azpilicueta’s recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition at Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía-C3A, Córdoba (2024), alongside presentations at the Barbican, London (2024) and Gasworks, London (2021).