CaccHhO CucchhA, 2025

First commissioned by de Appel⁠⁠ (opens in a new tab)⁠ (Amsterdam) in 2024, and co-produced with Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein⁠⁠ (opens in a new tab)⁠ (Vaduz), CaccHhO CucchhA is a scenographic exhibition for children and adults that treats play as invention, disobedience, and commons making. The exhibition is structured around two guiding notions: ‘cacho’, a word meaning a fragment of time that is immeasurable, or leftover to be repurposed into something new; and ‘cucha’, an Argentinean slang word for shelter or safe place.

CaccHhO CucchhA resists productivity. Instead, it privileges autotelic play as a social and creative practice, where listening, moving, and storytelling build identity, community and shared memories across generations.

The characters and costumes found in the space converge in the Jacquard tapestry, where their narratives are juxtaposed with images of healing plants such as lavanda, Aldo van Eyck’s playgrounds, medieval fools, mythical creatures and street festivals. Visitors are invited to engage and interpret these different temporalities, and to collaborate on co-authoring stories that don’t need to be resolved into a single linear narrative.

As the exhibition travels from de Appel⁠⁠ (opens in a new tab)⁠ in Amsterdam (2025) to Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein⁠⁠ (opens in a new tab)⁠ (2026) and the Lyon Biennale (2026), it continues to be activated through ongoing workshops with children, adults, and invited collaborators, shifting the work away from adult-centric frames toward a porous dramaturgy where visitors collectively compose stories, gestures, and sounds, daring to imagine and dream new ways of living together.

Public Programme and Playshops at de Appel

Playshops
CaccHho CucchhA was activated through children’s free play and a series of artist-led playshops. These sessions were facilitated by Mercedes Azpilicueta herself, Antonella Fittipaldi, Anna Klas, Lina Bravo Mora, Raoni Muzho Saleh, Gļeb(s) Maiboroda and Vere van der Veen, and explored the exhibition through storytelling, dwelling-making, weaving, sound-making, and planting. Since this is a child centred exhibition, rather than being guided or instructed, children were accompanied, with activities adapted to their collective rhythms, needs, and desires. The playshops were open to children aged 4–12. Adults were expected to participate in the play activities.

Symposium
On the 27 September 2025, The Magic Circle: Playing Outside Time symposium gathered artists, curators, and theorists such as Choi Heong-uk, O(o)yster Moms, María Berríos, Zeina Maasri, Priscila Fernandes, Penny Wilson (Assembly Collective), Daniela Pelegrinelli and other guests to address: How do exhibitions for children reconfigure institutional norms? How can difficult subjects be introduced with care and complexity? Sessions considered disobedience as an artistic and curatorial tool, layered storytelling, and the ethical labour of hosting young audiences without oversimplification.