The Collective’s Dome gallery on Calton Hill is a fine site for large-scale installation art. It is also a hard space to fill, but Mercedes Azpilicueta’s huge jacquard tapestry saturates it with narrative drama, weaving together stories of female resistance from across the 20th and 21st centuries. In particular, the Amsterdam-based Argentinian artist has chosen to connect the story of the potato riots led by working-class women in her home city with the Ni Una Menos (‘One Not Less’) marches against femicide and gender-based violence which began in Argentina in 2015.

A large central hanging, which combines reproductions of archival photography and other imagery with slogans in slang Dutch and Argentinian-Spanish, is accompanied by items of custom-made clothing and various devices that look fit for agricultural or transportational use. The costumes are inspired by the aprons and baskets used by the potato rioters (who were protesting food shortages during World War I), as well as items familiarly seen in contemporary demonstrations in South America. A glitchy electronica soundtrack accompanies it all, created from chants heard during the Ni Una Menos protests, as well as sounds of sewing machines, zippers and domestic labour. This is a show that deals with some fairly axiomatic themes in contemporary art with verve and intelligence. 

Mercedes Azpilicueta: Fire On The Mountain, Light On The Hill, Collective, until 7 September; Mercedes Azpilicueta performs at Collective, 22 August, 3pm; main picture: Daniel Nicolas.