Carnival, all my life! Artivistic Resistance Speeches in Barcelona: The Case of Enmedio

Abstract

The first two decades of the 21st century were marked by the emergence of countless autonomous and social movements that took to the public space to denounce the injustices committed against citizens in different parts of the world. Of all these groups, one appears innovative and managed to build discourses of resistance in the city of Barcelona systematically; we are referring to the Enmedio collective created in 2009. It is about different visual artists who, tired of the disconnection between art and politics, decided to place themselves "in the middle."
The objective of this article is to analyze, from a socio-semiotic perspective, two interventions of the group that were a resounding success: "Fiesta en el INEM" (2009) and "Fiesta cierra-Bankia" (2012), produced after two crucial events: the bursting of the real estate bubble (2008), and the civil manifestation 15M in 2011. First, we introduce the reader to the definition of artivism, then describe the trajectory of the group Enmedio. Secondly, we present our theoretical perspective and then conduct the discursive analysis of the two interventions mentioned above. The research results show how the carnivalesque imaginary of resistance was constructed through discourse against the established order, subverting the ways of knowing and doing and instituting possible new worlds from the relation of art and politics in a context of crisis and uncertainty.