de Appel presents CaccHho CucchhA, a scenographic exhibition by Mercedes Azpilicueta that treats play as invention, disobedience, and commons making. Commissioned by de Appel, the project unfolds as an immersive ecosystem of modular sculptural costumes, play platforms and a large tapestry, activated through an ongoing series of workshops with children, families, and invited collaborators. CaccHho CucchhA is part of de Appel’s long-term commitment to embedded art and mutual learning, as well as hosting children and caregivers into the centre of artistic life and rethinking what behaviors, and whose tempos are supported in cultural spaces.

CaccHho CucchhA draws on Azpilicueta’s long-term research Bestiario de Lengüitas while shifting away from adult-centric frames. The exhibition invites visitors to inhabit a porous dramaturgy where children and adults collectively compose stories, gestures, and sounds. The exhibition is structured around two guiding notions: cacho, a fragment of time that is immeasurable or leftover to be repurposed into something new, and cucha, a shelter or safe place. Here, every visitor’s contribution forms a cacho of a larger narrative, while the exhibition space of de Appel becomes a cucha: a hospitable environment for collective play, care, and slow time.

The exhibition is shaped by barnacle interiors, playground platforms inspired from Aldo van Eyck’s designs, modular sculptural costumes, and a large scale tapestry. The abstract structures invite open-ended interaction rather than prescribe fixed behaviors. They invite children to build and unbuild tents and shelters.

CaccHho CucchhA resists productivity-driven time. Instead, it privileges autotelic play (after Brian Sutton-Smith) and foregrounds play as identity and community-building, where rituals of weaving, listening, and moving build shared memories.

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

The activities will be mostly concentrated on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays between 3 October and 22 November. Fridays will be for visits from Schools and BSOs. Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays, the general public are invited to participate with their children.

Symposium
The Magic Circle: Playing Outside Time is a symposium on 27 September 2025, which gathers 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 consider disobedience as an artistic and curatorial tool, layered storytelling, and the ethical labour of hosting young audiences without oversimplification.

Saturday 27 September
○ Symposium The Magic Circle: Playing Outside Time
More information and registration will follow soon!

Saturday 11 October
○ Playshop Weaving and storytelling, led by Mercedes Azpilicueta & Gļeb(s) Maiboroda
Time: 11:00–12:30, language: English and Spanish
○ Playshop Wool felting, led by Anna Klas & Mercedes Azpilicueta
Time: 15:00–16:30, language: English and Spanish
○ Playshop Seed planting in de Appel’s garden, led by Lina Bravo Mora
Time: 15:00–16:30, language: English and Spanish

Saturday 25 October
○ Playshop Storytelling through costume change, led by Vere van der Veen
Time: 11:00–12:30, language: Dutch
○ Playshop Movement with children and parents, led by Antonella Fittipaldi
Time: 12:30–14:00, language: English and Italian

Wednesday 29 October
○ Playshop Concerts with costumes, led by Raoni Muzho Saleh
Time: 15:30–17:00, language: Dutch and English

Saturday 8 November
○ Playshop Seed planting in de Appel’s garden, led by Lina Bravo Mora
Time: 12:30–14:00, language: English and Spanish
○ Playshop Movement with children and parents, led by Antonella Fittipaldi
Time: 14:00–16:00, language: English and Italian

Wednesday 12 November
○ Playshop Making imagined tents and homes, led by Gļeb(s) Maiboroda
Time: 15:30–17:00, language: Dutch and English

Saturday 22 November
○ Playshop Weaving and storytelling, led by Mercedes Azpilicueta & Gļeb(s) Maiboroda
Time: 11:00–12:30, language: English
○ Playshop Movement with children and parents, led by Antonella Fittipaldi
Time: 12:30–14:00, language: English and Italian

We kindly ask a registration fee of €3,- per participant per workshop. Walk-ins are possible depending on the amount of registrations.

This exhibition is commissioned and curated by de Appel. Produced in collaboration with Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein where the exhibition will be presented during late spring 2026.

This project is supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Mondriaan Fonds, Elja Foundation, Stadsdeel Zuid, Fonds Cultuurparticipatie, Iona Stichting and Zabawas