Potatoes, Riots and Other Imaginaries

Potatoes, Riots and Other Imaginaries explores unseen, often informal modes of social organization, and the forming of intimacy and solidarity in everyday life. This sculptural tapestry invites the public to view both sides of the woven material, in which subjects such as food economies, young female workers at textile factories, and women-led global rights movements coalesce. The artist draws these subjects together in the context of her research into the Potato Riots of 1917 in the Jordaan neighborhood of Amsterdam, organized by working class women in response to food shortages during the First World War.

The human scale of the tapestry —surrounded by working clothes, tools, utensils, and whispered gossip— connects transhistorical struggles through an embodied experience. Housewives, maids, and nurses are shown performing types of maintenance and care tasks that are often deemed “women’s work.” These portrayals are accompanied by depictions of contemporary social movements such as #NiUnaMenos in Latin America that protest against systemic gender-based violence. The work centers on the interplay of the domestic and public realm while addressing the socio-economic value of domestic labor, and collectivity as a polyphonic force for change.

Potatoes, Riots, and Other Imaginaries, 2021
jacquard tapestry, objects, garments and sound

Coordination: Angeliki Tzortzakaki
Research: Sjoerd Kloosterhuis, Mieke Krijger, Laura Kneebone
Costume design: Lucile Sauzet
Exhibition design: Katharina Kasinger
Graphic design: Toni Brell
Sound design: Constanza Castagnet
Technical assistance: Guillermina Baiguera, Darya Golova, Alyssa Reiziger
Special thanks to: Yael Davids, Judith Peskens, (TextielLab), Vanina Scolavino, Anik Fournier, Mondriaan Fonds, Planemos; and Ohad Ben Shimon for the care, the love and the shared insights

Made thanks to the support of the folloeing archives:
Rijksmuseum, Stadsarchief
Amsterdam, Amsterdam Museum
ATRIA – kennisinstituut voor emancipatie en vrouwengeschiedenis
Nederlands Volksbuurtmuseum
Jordaanmuseum, IISG – Internationaal
Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
TextielMuseum
Eye Filmmuseum
Nationaal Archief / Collectie
Spaarnestad
RKD – Nederlands
Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis
Allard Pierson Museum – the collection pf the University of Amsterdam