arttalk and performance mercedes azpilicueta

sunday, 17 march: festive finissage of seeds of memory

On Sunday March 17th, the last day of the exhibition Seeds of Memory, we present an exclusive programme around Mercedes Azpilicueta's De Rebelse Lusthof. During an ArtTalk, moderator Rosie Reith will talk to various people involved in the development of this extensive project, including curator Hans den Hartog Jager, research assistant Laura Kneebone, curator Judith Spijksma and, of course, the artist herself. As an introduction to the ArtTalk, curator and writer Angeliki Tzortzakaki will read a passage from a text she wrote about De Rebelse Lusthof.

Besides the ArtTalk, Azpilicueta will also show for the first time at this finnisage a performance she developed especially for the exhibition. With this performance, the artist, together with performers from home and abroad, brings De Rebelse Lusthof to life.

Date: Sunday, 17 March 2024
Time: 14.00 – 16.30h
Fee: 5 euro (including coffee/tea)
Sign up via our ticketpage

programme

14.00 - 14.30h Walk-in14.30 - 15.00h Performance Mercedes Azpilicueta15.00 - 15.30h Coffee and tea break15.30 - 16.30h ArtTalk (in English)

performance

De Rebelse Lusthof highlights the history of Oranjewoud, including the botanical gardens once found on this estate. Following this project, Azpilicueta realised a performance that can be seen once at the Fries Museum. The performance, which takes place as a walk through the exhibition spaces, highlights the botanical inspiration behind the project. In this way, Azpilicueta extends the story of De Rebelse Lusthof with a choreography of movement and music that brings the work to life.

about hans den hartog jager

Hans den Hartog Jager is a Dutch author and art critic who works as a reviewer for different media, such as Dutch newspaper NRC. He also has different books to his credit, such as Verf (2004), Het sublieme (2011), Het streven (2014) and Zie de mens (2016). As curator, den Hartog Jager created several thematic exhibitions for Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle and he was artistic director of the exhibition Into Nature in Drenthe. Commissioned by Arcadia, den Hartog Jager curated the exhibition Paradys in 2022, for which he invited top international artists to create new work; inspired by the surroundings and the rich history of Oranjewoud. One of those artists was Mercedes Azpilicueta.

about mercedes azpilicueta

Mercedes Azpilicueta (Argentina, 1981) is an Amsterdam-based artist. Her work breaks through entrenched historical narratives by making associative connections from a decolonial and feminist perspective. She combines artisanal techniques with industrialised production and uses 'precarious' crafts. Azpilicueta received the Pernod Ricard Fellowship in 2017 and was nominated for the Prix de Rome in 2021. Her solo exhibitions have been shown worldwide, including at Kunstverein Göttingen, Sammlung Philara Düsseldorf, and Gasworks London. Her work has been shown at leading institutions such as Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Museion Bolzano/Bozen and MAMBA Buenos Aires. For more information, visit mercedesazpilicueta.info.

about judith spijksma

Judith Spijksma (she/her) is the curator of modern and contemporary art at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden. She is responsible for shaping both the collection and the exhibition program, with a focus on landscape, ecology, craft, and technology. Previously, she was a curator of modern and contemporary art at the Dordrechts Museum, where she initiated several solo exhibitions by emerging artists. From 2019-2021 Spijksma was one of the co-curators of Into Nature, a nomadic contemporary art biennial in the landscape of Drenthe. She is an active member of various committees in the field of the visual arts, enabling her to contribute to a thriving art scene.

about the performers

toni steffens

(they, she)
Toni Steffens holds a BA in Choreography from SNDO Amsterdam. Between spectatorship and material, Toni's approach to performing arts is always highly subjective or "subobjective" and navigates ethical and political concerns through the use of senses, perception and emotions. Engaging with human and non human collaborators, their work attempts to materialise horizontal yet dynamic encounters of matter. Notable helpful modalities for this practice are "speculative empathy”, (mis)communication, “auto curiosity” and “attending”. Toni’s work has been shown and supported by Les Urbaines Festival, Veem House for Performance, Frascati Theatre, Pact Zollverein, 8 Athens, Flam Festival, Tanzhaus NRW, NB projects, Mandala Festival, Batard Festival, Workspace Brussels, New fears Gallery and more. Toni has worked as a performer, advisor and dramaturge for numerous artists. Toni is currently enrolled at Sandberg Institute, MA Planetary Poetics in collaboration with Framer Framed and is a 3^rd year Acupuncture trainee at Shenzhou Open University.

angeliki tzortzakaki

Angeliki works as a writer, curator, project coordinator and tutor. Her practice materialises in multiple, often performative, ways, and overall looks at narratives that wish to break the nature-culture binary. In Amsterdam, she is currently part of the curatorial team of the 2024 Sonic Acts Biennial and coordinates the Fashion Department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. In 2021-2022, Angeliki received the Curatorial Fellowship ARTWORKS from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in Athens while previously was a fellow at the nomadic programme A Natural Oasis? (2018-2020). She has been collaborating closely with Mercedes Azpilicueta since 2019, in the development and coordination of some of her long-term projects.
Angeliki’s — collaborative — curatorial and artistic work has been presented at 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture (Elefsina), HIAP (Helsinki), Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen (Innsbruck), 19th Mediterranea Biennial (San Marino), Onassis Foundation (Athens), Italian Institute of Culture (Tokyo), Ecofeminist Festival (Baku), Laurel Project Space (Amsterdam), JaJaJa NeeNeeNee (Amsterdam), Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, PARADISE AiR (Matsudo), Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (Athens) and published among others at Flash Art International, Arts of the Working Class, ATP Diary, Roots-Routes, Guestrooms, Archive Books, Building Fictions, Lugemik and De Appel.

antonella fittipaldi

Antonella Fittipaldi is a South Italian performer, dancer and choreographer based in Amsterdam. She graduated in choreography at SNDO, in Amsterdam, and in Philosophy at the Università Statale of Milan. Her research concerns the representation of feminine bodies with voices and vice versa, in public and private spaces. Her work reflects on the relation between bodies/voices and architecture of cities and villages, channeling anarchist waves of collective impromptu acts of feminine languages and narratives, through streets, theaters and unconventional places.

toni brell

Toni Brell works with narrative, scenography, sound and performance as tools for relation-making. Using scripted and non-scripted elements, Brell is interested in creating situations in which an audience can react and relate to what they see.

Brell's artistic practice is rooted in their background in theatre and media studies, where they focused on narratology and the exploration of gender in storytelling. Subsequently, they worked as a dramaturge in different theatres, developing an interest in non-linear, fragmented, and multimedia narratives. This exploration led them to Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, where they earned their MFA in 2021.

As a member of Brackish-Collective, they produce site-specific performances that intertwine sound, scenography, cooking and narrative. In 2023 Brell was awarded Mondriaan Artist Start Grant. Recent exhibitions and performances of their work have taken place at venues such as HIAP (Helsinki), Zone2Source (Amsterdam), Into The Great Wide Open (Vlieland), and Garage Rotterdam. Since 2023, Brell teaches narrative and time-based media at Design Academy Eindhoven.

seeds of memory

check the exhbition here