Mercedes Azpilicueta

Mercedes Azpilicueta by Onze Roeping, on Joyful Militancy

Onze Roeping, on Joyful Militancy had the form of a series of performative walks through the neighborhood the Jordaan in Amsterdam that takes the famous women led 19th century Potato Riots as a starting point. The reserach started in September 2019 with the walks taking place in July 2022.

About the R Project
Women have fought several times in history for the rights of the working class, despite the engendered assumption that they had no contribution to society besides their capacity -and often the obligation- to procreate. During critical situations such as wars and famines where the scarce resources were distributed to the “productive” part of the population, the Jordanese women stood up collectively and plundered food supplies in order to feed their families. The resulting jolt was an encouraging example of intersectional solidarity and care for the part of the population facing repression and lack of social justice.

With a focus on the Potato Riots in 1917 which this week marks its 105th anniversary, the work of Mercedes Azpilicueta takes the form of a walk in the public space.The performative walks rehearse, reiterates and reinforces the intimacy and support within such movements and, seen through today’s feminist struggles, reflect on the following questions: what are the affective elements lying underneath these events, if we consider that ‘tenderness and vulnerability can thrive alongside these militant commitments’? How did household economies evolve since then and what has been the role of the public space in it? Taking these considerations as a starting point, the walks unfold through a sequence of embodied material (infra)structures such as the disappearing Gangen (passages), barricades and bridges, but also self made domestic tools, aprons and carrier bags. Woven together in Onze Roeping, on Joyful Militancy they activate hidden sites and secret relationships with the city’s history and architecture.

Onze Roeping, on Joyful Militancy was initiated by Mercedes Azpilicueta and ROZENSTRAAT-curator Sjoerd Kloosterhuis.

Partner: Jordaan Museum

Many thanks to @stichtingstokroos and @afk020