Theatricalities and performativities in necropolitical contexts

Abstract

This text explores representational strategies developed by artists and civil society to question the excessive use of power in patriarchal regimes, such as the Cuban one, especially from the massive social protests of July 11, 2021, which were preceded by the movements of San Isidro and 27N. We argue for the potency of angry bodies, which are a result of the violence exerted on people in regimes of authoritarian control and necropolitical practices. The theatricality of the State can be used to reinforce a panopticon system, which intends to subjugate all forms of dissidence and resistance, in the same way as it develops a punitive performativity. However, these devices are used in acts and gestures of civic subversion that render visible the brutality of power. Via a comparative approach, the text investigates actions carried out by artists in other extremely violent contexts, such as Mexico, to turn visible the means by which necropowers are inscribed into bodies. Finally, we inquire into the possible collaborations of silence in the face of necropowers.