El Alto | Queer: Gender Sexuality and the Arts in the Americas

Argentina
16 Queer Performance and Activism in the Era of Transfeminisms
17
QUEER PERFORMANCE
AND ACTIVISM IN
THE ERA OF
TRANSFEMINISMS
Entrenar la Fiesta, ORGIES © Nicolas Dodi
(design/diseño: Julián Dubbie)
Marie Bardet with Marcela Fuentes
Marcela (marshagall, an Argentine “scholartist”
specialising in performance studies and living
in Chicago) attended the event Escena Política
(Political Scene) during one of her visits to Buenos
Aires. Marie (a French dancer and philosopher
living in Argentina) was there as well, as one
of the speakers. It was October 2017, and the
2-day event had been organised by a group of
performance artists, who had spent the previous
months advocating the need to think about
politics. During the gathering they explored queer
forms of protest, because even in a country like
Argentina, where exciting demonstrations against
neoliberalism are taking place, protest action
still resorts to predictable, outdated collective
dynamics. Protest has no regard for sexuality,
for the ways in which oppression manifests in
the ways we protest. During Escena Política we
exchanged garments on catwalks and achieved a
“zero degree” of nudity: we took to the streets
like a band of iconoclasts, mutating into animals
in front of the attentive gaze of La Boca’s (a
Buenos Aires district) dwellers. This was just a
gesture, of course, because in the context of the
massive “Not One [Woman] Less” movement,
those 34 individuals that were part of Escena
Política were but a small minority. Even so, we
wanted to bring attention to the fact that when
we join or participate in demonstrations, we put
on established gender performances, we remain
obedient even when breaking the rules. Escena
Política came to life as a demonstration against
the shutdown of dance and show venues in the
city, but it soon became a space that brought
the body the centre, as a “bio-political axis”,
of economic policy protests. The event and
experiment favoured the intersection between
feminism and queer politics. It also promoted the
adoption of a “nothing will stop us” attitude.
We intend to reflect upon the problematics
behind and the emergence of practices around
the human body from a performative standpoint,
making a link to political protests and Argentina’s
recent history. As part of this exercise, we want
to revise the local political movement landscape,
strongly influenced by transfeminism -e.g.
the “Not One [Woman] Less” demonstrations
(and the strikes and gatherings that sprang
from them), the swarm of green kerchiefs that
waved during the struggle for the legalisation
of abortion, and by the many marches and
interventions led by trans communities. These
protests invite (and dare) us to experience the
different perspectives forged through gestures,
identities, understandings of the body and
aesthetic performances; i.e., those perspectives
that express and transform our sensitivity.
The actions and voices of transfeminism have
transformed many lives, and they have also
transformed our bodies and our perceptions on
a series of cross-cutting issues: racial, economic,
territorial, financial, emotional, physical and
collective, among others.
After a period of several legislative successes
in Argentina, such as the legislation on samesex
marriage (2010) and gender identity (2012)
—achieved thanks to the efforts of groups and
leaders like Lohana Berkins and Diana Sacayán—,
the demonstrations against gender violence and
in favour of reproductive rights for women (the
“Not One [Woman] Less” Movement and the
National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe