This talk is based on Paulina Bronfman’s recent book and explores the relationship between performance and activism in Chile as a form of political expression and citizen participation during the period 2010-2020. Since the student mobilizations of 2006, the social movements that have taken place in Chile are characterized, in many cases, by the appropriation of public space and the political use of the body. This became particularly evident during the social outbreak of October 2019. The social unrest was accompanied by a cultural explosion, where the arts in all their dimensions played a crucial role as new strategies of collective action. 

This talk proposes two hypotheses about this cultural revolution.

Firstly, this explosion of artistic activism had been fermenting for at least a decade (2010-2020) within the social movements, using performance and art as expressions of collective action. These artistic drivers, catalysts of this cultural revolution, have been mobilized around three fundamental axes of social demands: human rights, education, and feminism.

The second hypothesis is that, in Chile, artistic activism emerged to exercise citizenship and strengthen the diversity of cultural identities. It is no longer just artists who contribute to social and protest movements with their work: now, it is the citizens who use artistic expression as a practice of political participation. From an intersectional and feminist perspective, performance art reimagines possible futures embodying the political demand, full of memory, reclaiming the public space. Performance as the 'art of action' conquers the realm of non-formal education, permeating public space and shaping a pedagogy of memory and hope."

About the speaker: Dr. Paulina Bronfman  is a Postdoctoral Researcher of the ANILLO ANID Project “Gender, Biopolitics and Creation. Cultural and political productions of women for new forms in gender relations” at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile. She hold a Master's and a PhD in Education Studies at the University of York, United Kingdom. Her work explores the intersections between Performance, Citizenship Education  and Cultural Studies. Dr Bronfman is author of the book, "Performance, ciudadania y activismo en Chile 2010-2020" (Editorial Oso Liebre). Currently she is working on her second book: Scenic and performative practices as an ecological strategy in Chile (2010-2020), focused on environmental artistic activism, funded by the Chilean Ministry of Cult by the Chilean Ministry of Culture and Arts. 

Registration: To register for the event please email Hannah Walters (hannah.1.walters@kcl.ac.uk) or Billy Holzberg (billy.holzberg@kcl.ac.uk) who will send you the link to the online seminar.