Mercedes Azpilicueta’s work explores women’s desires, the hidden lines of history, and the complex power dynamics that shape our world. As she puts it, she is drawn to embracing the “differences, rhythms, and polycentrism” of reality. In this talk, Azpilicueta will delve into her most significant works, sharing insights into her research and creative process, in conversation with Florencia Malbrán. Throughout the discussion, references will also be made to pioneering Latin American artists, whose legacies are gaining new relevance today, such as Raquel Forner and Lea Lublin.

In collaboration with Instituto Cervantes Munich

Mercedes Azpilicueta (La Plata, Argentina, 1981) is a visual and performance artist from Buenos Aires who lives and works in Amsterdam. Her artistic practice brings together various characters from the past and present who approach the vulnerable or collective body from a decolonial feminist perspective. Through fluid and associative connections, she counters rigid historical narratives to dismantle them and create space for affective and dissident voices to emerge. Her work manifests in performative and sculptural installations, inspired by speculative and fictional Latin American literature, neobaroque art history, contemporary popular culture, and new materialism theory. Through collaborative and interdisciplinary practices, she combines “precarious” craft-based techniques—historically associated with obsolete domestic knowledge—with industrialized productions.

She was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam
in 2015-16 and received the Pernod Ricard Fellowship in 2017. Her solo exhibitions include Kunstverein Göttingen (2023); Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf (2022); Gasworks, London (2021); CAC Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge (2021); Museion, Bolzano/Bozen (2020); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2019); CentroCentro, Madrid (2019); and MAMBA, Buenos Aires (2018). Her work has been presented at Villa Vassilieff, Paris; REDCAT Gallery, Los Angeles; MACBA, Barcelona (all in 2018); CA2M, Móstoles (2017); Onomatopee, Eindhoven (2016); TENT, Rotterdam (2015); and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2014). Azpilicueta was nominated for the Prix de Rome 2021.

Florencia Malbrán (Buenos Aires, 1979) is a curator and writer with a distinguished career in renowned international museums and extensive academic experience. She has organized exhibitions in various countries, including Argentina, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, and Paraguay. Among her curatorial roles, she has worked at MALBA – the Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires, the Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires, and the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo. In addition, she was the international Hilla Rebay fellow at the Guggenheim museums in New York, Bilbao, and Venice. Malbrán has worked closely with collectors and institutions for collection expansion and curatorial project implementation. Malbrán teaches at the University of San Andrés and New York University in Buenos Aires and has been a visiting professor at institutions such as Leuphana University in Germany and Brown University in the United States. She is currently working on a new book project on the redefinition of 20th-century Latin American art, funded by a grant from the NYU Global Faculty.