Mercedes Azpilicueta is a visual and performance artist. She studied art at the National University of Arts in Buenos Aires and at the Dutch Art Institute/ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem. She takes what she calls a ‘unreliable investigator’ approach, drawing on fields of knowledge and cultural manifestations ranging from Baroque art to popular or street culture. Azpilicueta's work has a markedly decolonial feminist perspective; she takes a particular interest in figures from the past and present with unorthodox lives and affective experiences. As a result, her work frequently includes feminist, queer, migrant and exile voices. Her visual, performative and installation pieces often centre on the (individual and collective) body, embracing both its vulnerability and its capacity for resistance.
From her earliest career, Azpilicueta has shown an inclination for speculative and fictional Latino literature, adopting performative and oral formats. More recently, her work has taken the form of sculptural and performative interventions that explore the theatrical possibilities of sculpture and installation, often worked through the dynamics of collaboration and interdisciplinarity. Her art combines rudimentary craft techniques (such as embroidery) with industrialised methods, —using recycled and natural materials including latex, leather, wool and wax— to challenge the circulatory narratives of these resources and their underlying extractivistic logic.
Among other accolades, Azpilicueta has won the ARCO Young Artists Award (2019) and the Pernod Ricard Grant (2017). She was also nominated for the Prix de Rome (2021). She was artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (2015-2016) and has staged solo shows at some major international institutions including the Kunstverein Göttingen (2023) in Göttingen, the Sammlung Philara (2022) in Düsseldorf, the Gasworks (2021) in London, the Van Abbemuseum (2019) in Eindhoven, the CentroCentro (2019) in Madrid and the MAMBA (2018) in Buenos Aires. Her work can be found in museums and institutions around the world, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA) and the Museion (Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Belzano).
Mercedes Azpilicueta is a visual and performance artist. She studied art at the National University of Arts in Buenos Aires and at the Dutch Art Institute/ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem. She takes what she calls a ‘unreliable investigator’ approach, drawing on fields of knowledge and cultural manifestations ranging from Baroque art to popular or street culture. Azpilicueta's work has a markedly decolonial feminist perspective; she takes a particular interest in figures from the past and present with unorthodox lives and affective experiences. As a result, her work frequently includes feminist, queer, migrant and exile voices. Her visual, performative and installation pieces often centre on the (individual and collective) body, embracing both its vulnerability and its capacity for resistance.
From her earliest career, Azpilicueta has shown an inclination for speculative and fictional Latino literature, adopting performative and oral formats. More recently, her work has taken the form of sculptural and performative interventions that explore the theatrical possibilities of sculpture and installation, often worked through the dynamics of collaboration and interdisciplinarity. Her art combines rudimentary craft techniques (such as embroidery) with industrialised methods, —using recycled and natural materials including latex, leather, wool and wax— to challenge the circulatory narratives of these resources and their underlying extractivistic logic.
Among other accolades, Azpilicueta has won the ARCO Young Artists Award (2019) and the Pernod Ricard Grant (2017). She was also nominated for the Prix de Rome (2021). She was artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (2015-2016) and has staged solo shows at some major international institutions including the Kunstverein Göttingen (2023) in Göttingen, the Sammlung Philara (2022) in Düsseldorf, the Gasworks (2021) in London, the Van Abbemuseum (2019) in Eindhoven, the CentroCentro (2019) in Madrid and the MAMBA (2018) in Buenos Aires. Her work can be found in museums and institutions around the world, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA) and the Museion (Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Belzano).