Aesthetics of protests: spaces and (de)colonial practices in Brazilian cities (2013 – 2022)
Aesthetics; policy; protest; public place
The June 2013 Uprisings represents a turning point in Brazilian democratic manifestations in the 21st century. These protests occupied the public spaces of the main Brazilian cities as had not been seen in the 2000s. However, the relationship between politics, public space and protests engendered questions that, in turn, categorized the demonstrations into two strands, a spatial duality, where groupings between social actors and practices established situations of radical polarization, symbolically preventing protesters from co-participating in the same spaces. This fact opens possibilities for investigation into the legitimacy of protest demonstrations in the following years as political strategies in the fight against urban issues, as well as making it possible to conceptually and consciously express certain ideas, emotions and sensations. When protesters occupy a space, they modify the urban landscape and the dynamics of everyday processes in that place, albeit in an ephemeral way, with new colors, sounds, practices, physical and symbolic elements, establishing a relationship of pleasure through an agreement between understanding and imagination. Thus, this work proposes to investigate to what extent these events are no longer solely democratic strategies in the face of urban-social issues, but also become theatrical representations that can achieve their own aesthetics.