The Rhetoric of Disobedience: Art and Power in Latin America

The transformation of Latin American societies from the 1970s onward and the recent sociopolitical and economic changes at a global scale call for reconsiderations of the relation between art and power and its role in processes of democratization. This article examines art’s social function and its understanding as transformative social praxis—an activity that reflects upon the world and seeks to change it, and that at the same time critically reflects upon its own condition and relation to that world. It specifically suggests the idea of art’s rhetoric in order to conceptualize art’s critical potential and identify processes that generate and displace meaning across artistic, sociopolitical, and discursive contexts. Tucumán Arde (1968) in Argentina, Colectivo Actiones deArte’s Para no morir de hambre en el arte (1979) in Chile, and Proyecto Venus (2000–2006), based in Buenos Aires, use interdisciplinary methodologies to critically intersect the public sphere. They scrutinize art’s position in society, seek to raise awareness, and act as alternative networks of information and socialization