Abstract
Drawing on the work of Jacques Rancière, the chapter explores how consensus on the surface is questioned through the introduction of conflict by a community (politics), who challenges the ways of doing, acting, saying, and feeling (aesthetics). Social movements in Spain, after the economic crisis, deploy aesthetic practices in urban spaces in order to make inequality visible and enhance a new sense of community. This is illustrated through three cases: Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), Invisibles, and “We Are Not Crime.” Three types of subjectivization are developed as a consequence of interrupting the dominant order in specific settings (i.e., the streets as public spaces): the part which has no justice, the part which has no visibility, and the part which has no voice.
Notes
- 1.
It must be emphasized that distribution has also been translated as “partition” since it consists of creating parts (for those included and excluded).
References
Agustín, Ó. G. (2015). Sociology of discourse. From institutions to social change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Carnevale, F., & Kelsey, J. (2007). Art of the possible: In conversation with Jacques Rancière. Artforum, 45(7), 256–269.
Colau, A., & Alemany, A. (2012). Vidas hipotecadas. De la burbuja inmobiliaria al derecho a la vivienda. Barcelona: Cuadrilátero de libros.
Diso Press. (2014, April 18). La PAH organiza su ‘procesión’ para exigir ‘Juicio y Castigo’ para los estafadores hipotecarios. You Tube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKTe0RX2KkI
Doerr, N. (2013). Between Habermas and Rancière: The democracy of political translation. EIPCP. Retrieved from http://eipcp.net/transversal/0613/doerr/en
Fidalgo, A. I. (2015). Evolución del escrache en el entorno urbano. El uso de lo gráfico en lo político. In C. M. Llopis (Ed.), La otra ciudad: recorridos de una gráfica disidente (pp. 219–244). Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México: Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juarez.
Flesher Fominaya, C. (2015a). Debunking spontaneity: Spain’s 15-M/indignados as autonomous movement. Social Movement Studies, 14(2), 142–163.
Flesher Fominaya, C. (2015b). Redefining the crisis/redefining democracy: Mobilising for the right to housing in Spain’s PAH movement. South European Society and Politics, 20(4), 465–485.
Flesher Fominaya, C. (2015c, April 22). España: El holograma como protesta. Democracia Abierta. Retrieved from https://www.opendemocracy.net/democraciaabierta/cristina-flesher-fominaya-andrea-teti/espa%C3%B1a-el-holograma-como-protesta
Gentier, A. (2012). Spanish banks and the housing crisis: Worse than the subprime crisis? International Journal of Business, 17(4), 342–351.
Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2012). Declaration. New York: Argo Navis.
Invisibles de Tetuán. (2013). ¿Quiénes somos? Retrieved from http://invisiblesdetetuan.org/sobre-nosotros/sample-page/
Irvine, M. (2012). The work on the street: Street art and visual culture. In I. Heywood & B. Sandywell (Eds.), The Handbook of Visual Culture (pp. 235–278). New York: Berg.
Martin Rojo, L. (2016). Taking over the square: The role of linguistic practices in contesting urban spaces. In L. M. Rojo (Ed.), Occupy. The spatial dynamics of discourse in global protest movements. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin Rojo, L., & Portillo, C. (2015). The transformation of urban space. Agency and constraints in a peripheral district in the post-industrial city of Madrid. AILA Review, 28, 72–102.
Mayoral, R. (2014, July). ‘Juicio y Castigo’ a los responsables de la estafa hipotecaria. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QciDm8PfJGk
Nall, T. (2013, December 12). The politics of the mask. The Huffintong Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-nail/the-politics-of-the-mask_b_4262001.html
Prentoulis, M., & Thomassen, L. (2013). Political theory in the square: Protest, representation and subjectification. Contemporary Political Theory, 12(3), 166–184.
Rancière, J. (1999). Disagreement: Politics and philosophy. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Rancière, J. (2004). The politics of aesthetics. The distribution of the sensible. London: Continuum.
Rancière, J. (2009). The emancipated spectator. London: Verso.
Rancière, J. (2011). The thinking of dissensus: Politics and aesthetics. In P. Bowman & R. Stamp (Eds.), Reading Rancière (pp. 1–17). London: Continuum.
Seymour, R. (2012, February). We are all precarious—On the concept of the ‘precariat’ and its misuses. New Left Project. Retrieved from http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/we_are_all_precarious_on_the_concept_of_the_precariat_and_its_misuses
Van Wees, J. P. (2016). Rancière, una filosofía estética impolíticamente política. Revista Letral, 16, 54–66.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the editors of this volume for the invitation to contribute to it, Brady Wagoner and particularly Sarah H. Awad for her encouragement, interest, and patience. My thanks also to all the participants of the “Street Art and Resistance” seminar in Aalborg for the debate and interesting comments. Finally, I want to thank María González Amarillo, Santi Espinosa, Soledad Gálvez, Cristina Flesher, and Alberto Escudero for allowing me to use their pictures.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Agustín, Ó.G. (2017). The Aesthetics of Social Movements in Spain. In: Awad, S., Wagoner, B. (eds) Street Art of Resistance. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63330-5_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63330-5_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63329-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63330-5
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)