What Do We Do? Why and Against What Do We Do it? Tensions, Crossroads and Potencies of (Independent? Self-Managed? Tangled?) Artistic Doing

Abstract

La Plata –the capital city of Buenos Aires province– is characterized by an important artistic and cultural activity, much of which occurs in a circuit that defines itself as independent or self-managed. In this paper we will address some of the problems and contradictions related to the production conditions and strategies of this circuit, based on a concrete case: a Festival of Contemporary Dance, Performance and Transdisciplinary Actions organized by a self-managed group of dancers. This case study is part of an ethnographical approach to the field of performing arts in La Plata which we have presented in previous works, and it is an example to show some of the logics of the circuit we are inquiring.