Beyond the Wall: Subjectivity, Aesthetics and Space in Everyday Artistic Activism in Buenos Aires, Argentina

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of artistic activism in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Despite the fact that art and politics are interwoven throughout Latin American history, few ethnographic analyses of artistic activism centralize questions of art and aesthetics. I have therefore set out to integrate social movement theory with insights from the anthropology of art, to propose a situated approach to artist-activist practice. To this end, I studied the everyday practices of four small-scale artist-activist groups (Cultura Vallese, Colectivo Contramuro, Red Sudakas and Grupo Cultural Haroldo Conti) that organize participatory artistic activities in Greater Buenos Aires’ public spaces. The research question is formulated as follows: How do artist-activists in Buenos Aires construct political and artistic meanings and how does this relate to their personal, political, and aesthetic positionalities? Based on twenty months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2014–2015, I argue that understanding the interplay between culture and politics in activist art requires an integrated focus on activist subjectivities, aesthetics and (urban) space. The main contribution of this dissertation is a novel approach to understanding artistic activism that looks beyond the aesthetics and messages conveyed at the social relations in which art is embedded. This situated approach to aesthetics highlights the contradictions and tensions that arise in discussions of aesthetics and politics. My ethnographic case studies underscore that the processes of aestheticization and politicization are always in flux — continuously shaped by participants’ past experiences, available repertoires of contention, urban space, and the specific dynamics of each protest. What is considered politically effective may not always align with aesthetic satisfaction, and vice versa. Conversations on politics and aesthetics are, hence, connected to larger questions about how individuals envision social change. I therefore propose that understanding artistic activism involves examining how objects and experiences are interpreted as political and/or artistic within any given place and time. This approach helps to leave behind a dominant dichotomous focus on either political positionality and content or aesthetics and is a contribution to theories of micro-mobilization that focus on perceived efficacy. My findings reveal that activist art embodies an aesthetics of becoming, where notions of beauty and value are constantly negotiated, alongside considerations of political efficacy, commitment, social organization, and the pursuit of a meaningful (activist) life. While the participatory practices of artist-activists may not lead to immediate changes in political or ideological structures, they contribute to the formation of public spaces that enable the development of new political subjectivities through shared spatial experiences and affective engagement.