CHoreographing Meanings: Performance and Student Movements in Chile
Camila Gonzalez Ortiz
Abstract
In May 2011, state-funded secondary schools and Public Universities in Chile started a national movement demanding the end of for-profit private educational institutions and stronger legislation regarding the supervisor role of the state by stopping the public funding to these private institutions and improving the access of the poorest sector to higher education.
Between May and September of 2011, the students devised several site-specific street performances, which served as a political tool for peaceful protest and resistance against the unwillingness of the government and parliament to make the changes, and against the constant criminalisation of the movement by the official media.
This paper will analyse two street performances organised by the students. The first one is Thriller por la Educación (Thriller for the education), where 2000 students dressed like zombies danced Michael Jackson choreography at Constitución Square in Santiago, in front of the palace of Government. The second performance is 1800 Horas por la Educación (1800 Hours for education), a durational performance where students ran for 1800 hours, during two months, around the palace of government.
I aim to describe these performances in terms of their models of organisation, promotion, and influence in the public sphere. Moreover, I will analyse the dialogue that these artistic actions established with outdoor (squares and main avenues) and constructed governmental institutions involved in the student conflict.
These interventions were clear examples of how the student movement in Chile re-thinks the social and political use of public educational spaces, transforming the affects and social closeness between the city and its habitants.
In May 2011, state-funded secondary schools and Public Universities in Chile started a national movement demanding the end of for-profit private educational institutions and stronger legislation regarding the supervisor role of the state by stopping the public funding to these private institutions and improving the access of the poorest sector to higher education.
Between May and September of 2011, the students devised several site-specific street performances, which served as a political tool for peaceful protest and resistance against the unwillingness of the government and parliament to make the changes, and against the constant criminalisation of the movement by the official media.
This paper will analyse two street performances organised by the students. The first one is Thriller por la Educación (Thriller for the education), where 2000 students dressed like zombies danced Michael Jackson choreography at Constitución Square in Santiago, in front of the palace of Government. The second performance is 1800 Horas por la Educación (1800 Hours for education), a durational performance where students ran for 1800 hours, during two months, around the palace of government.
I aim to describe these performances in terms of their models of organisation, promotion, and influence in the public sphere. Moreover, I will analyse the dialogue that these artistic actions established with outdoor (squares and main avenues) and constructed governmental institutions involved in the student conflict.
These interventions were clear examples of how the student movement in Chile re-thinks the social and political use of public educational spaces, transforming the affects and social closeness between the city and its habitants.
| etudessept2015ortiz.pdf |
