Performing sem-teto: the transversal tactics of artivismo and the squatters' movement

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Notes

 1 Quoted in Soja, Edward W. 1996. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 34–5.

 2 Mitchell, Don. 2003. The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space. New York: Guilford Press, 19–20.

 3 Rolnik, Raquel. ‘Um novo lugar para o velho centro.’ Vitruvius/Minha Cidade. June 2006. http://www.vitruvius.com.br/minhacidade/mc164/mc164.asp (accessed 30 March 2009).

 4 See Fórum Centro Vivo. Dossiê de Denuncia: Violação dos Direitos Humanos no Centro de São Paulo: propostas e reinvidicações para políticas públicas. 30 January 2007. http://dossie.centrovivo.org/Main/HomePage (accessed 14 January 2009).

 5 The above-mentioned dossier of denunciation published by ‘Fórum Centro Vivo’ compiles plenty of evidence for this claim. This coalition argues that the administration of Serra and Kassab (2005–2009) has performed ‘numerous and systematic actions that resulted in the displacement and expulsion of the most vulnerable and poor populations’, which signifies not only gentrification but also ‘a cleansing, which is not only physical but also social’. http://dossie.centrovivo.org/Main/ApreSentacao.

 6 With regard to São Paulo, see Maricato, Ermínia. 1996. Metrópole na periferia do capitalismo: Ilegalidade, desigualdade e violência. São Paulo: Editora Huicitec, 11; and for a geographically broader application of this notion, see Buarque, Cristovam. 1993. O que é apartação: o apartheid social no Brasil. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense.

 7 The dossier of denunciation also points out a number of human rights violations that have occurred during evictions from squatted buildings and from other public spaces as a result of institutionalized violence. In fact, ‘Fórum Centro Vivo’ also points out that forced evictions in themselves (without physical injuries) are a violation of human rights according to the resolution 1993/77 of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. These forced evictions, unaccompanied by measures that guarantee alternatives other than the street, also violate the Federal constitution and the ‘Estatuto da Cidade’, as well as the Policies of Urban development expressed in the law n. 13.430/2002 of the ‘Plano Diretor’ of São Paulo. For more details see http://dossie.centrovivo.org/Main/CapituloIParte3.

 8 Levy, Charmain. 2005. The Housing Movement in the City of São Paulo: Crisis and Revival. In Collective Action and Radicalism in Brazil: Women, Urban Housing, and Rural Movements, edited by Michel Duquette, Maurilio Galdino, Charmain Levy, Bérengère Marques-Pereira and Florence Raes. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 104 (97–129).

 9 Hélio Oiticica (1937–1980), a Brazilian visual artist whose international recognition arrived after his early death, produced a body of work that came out of his immersions in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and particularly through his collaborations with those he befriended in the samba school of the Mangueira ‘favela’. For more on the subject see: Dezeuze, Anna. 2004. Tactile Dematerialization, Sensory Politics: Hélio Oiticica's Parangolés. Art Journal 3 (2): 58–71.

10 I am referring to the People's Center of Culture, which was a branch of UNE, the National Union of Students, mobilized in the early 1960s a nationwide left-wing organization that sought, in the words of Fernando Peixoto, ‘to promote cultural activities in the theatrical, cinematographic, musical and visual arts sectors’ and ‘to raise the level of awareness of the popular masses’. Peixoto, Fernando. 1989. O Melhor do Teatro do CPC da UNE. São Paulo: Global Editora, 13.

11 According to Mariane Cavalcante, the editor of the blog ‘Integraçao Sem Posse’, 150 out of the 486 families obtained public housing but in the periphery of the city. The remainder were given a monthly stipend and were promised (by the Federal government) housing in a downtown area. http://integracaosemposse.zip.net/arch2007-06-01_2007-06-30.html.

12 Not surprisingly, this notion of conviviality was also the theme of the São Paulo Art Biennial, which may reveal a certain impact of grass-root practices upon the world of high art.

13 ‘Aesthetics of misery’ is a reference to the ‘Aesthetics of Hunger’, a central notion to an important film movement, known as ‘Cinema Novo’, which emerged in the late 1950s.

14 Borges, Fabiane. ‘Ocupação na Ocupação. 12 December 2003. http://www.ipetrans.hpg.com.br/ocupacao_na_ocupacao.htm (accessed 30 March 2009).

15 See blog Integração Sem Posse. http://integracaosemposse.zip.net/ (accessed 30 March 2009).

16 Kravagna, Christian. 1998. Working on the community: Models of participatory Practice. Republicart 2002–2004. http://www.republicart.net/disc/aap/kravagna01_en.htm (accessed 30 March 2009).

17 Severino's trajectory, from trash collector to book collector and librarian, appears in the major newspaper Folha de São Paulo and the magazine Época and many others: Balazina, Afra. ‘Sem-teto faz biblioteca em prédio invadido’, Folha online, 1 February 2006. http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u117855.shtml (accessed 30 March 2009). Brum, Eliane. ‘ ‘Isso é um crime!’ Foi o que disse o catador de lixo Severino Manoel de Souza ao ver o livro de Machado de Assis diante da guilhotina. E passou a reunir uma biblioteca comunitária de 7 mil volumes’. Revista Época (online) 9 June 2006. http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Revista/Epoca/0,EDG74449-6014-421,00.html (accessed 30 March 2009). Bonadio, Luciana' ‘Livro é a minha sobremesa,’ diz Catador de papel a José Mindlin', Globo.com. G1 Portal de Notícias, 12 September 2006. http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/SaoPaulo/0,AA1381349-5605,00.html (accessed 30 March 2009).

18 Bonduki, Nabil. 2004. São Paulo at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century: The City, its Culture and the Struggle against Exclusion. Parachute: Art Contemporain/Contemporary Art 116: 94–104.

19 Bourdieu, Pierre. 1993. The Field of Cultural Production. New York: Columbia U.P., 44–5.

20 Rosas, Ricardo. ‘Hibridismo coletivo no Brasil, transversalidade ou cooptação?’ Forum Permanente, 5 January 2007. http://forumpermanente.incubadora.fapesp.br/portal/.event_pres/simp_sem/pad-ped0/documentacao-f/mesa_01/mesa1_ricardo_rosas. (accessed 30 March 2009).

21 Raunig, Gerald. ‘Transversal Multitudes’. Republicart, September 2002. http://www.republicart.net/disc/mundial/raunig02_en.htm (accessed 30 March 2009).

22 This sentence was coined by the collective ‘Frente 3 de Fevereiro’, who created a large-scale flag that was hung from the outside of the building but also utilized in other urban interventions. See http://www.frentre3defevereiro.com.br (accessed 6 December 2009).

23 These posters were created by the collective Bijari. See http://www.bijari.com.br (accessed 6 December 2009).

24 See Prefeitura da Cidade de São Paulo, 9 January 2007. http://www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/portal/a_cidade/noticias/index.php?p = 14184 (accessed 30 March 2009).

25 Interviewed: 30 August 2005.

26 Marrero, María Teresa. 1994. Public Art, Performance Art, and the Politics of Site. In Negotiating Performance: Gender, Sexuality and Theatricality in Latin/o America, edited by Diana Taylor and Juan Villegas. Durham: Duke University Press, 104 (102–20).

27 ‘Propaganda irregular de imóveis’. Globo News, 25 May 2005. http:://sptv.globo.com/Sptv/0.19125.VSE0-2900html (accessed 6 November 2006).

28 Krzysztof Wodiczko's Homeless Vehicle (1988–1989) was an art project by the well-known Polish artist that sought to call attention to the homeless problem in New York city. In spite of its pragmatic functions – it had storage and space for sleeping, among other things – it was intended as a social critique and as a tactic to make homeless more visible. See Lurie, David V., and Krzysztof Wodiczko. 1988. Homeless Vehicle Project. October 47, 53–67.

29 Frampton, Kenneth. 1983. Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance. In Anti-Aesthetic, edited by Hal Foster. Port Towsend: Bay Press, 26.

30 Low, Setha, and Neil Smith. 2005. The Politics of Public Space. London: Routledge, 2.