Playing crip: the politics of disabled artists’ performances in Spain

ABSTRACT

The arts and disability are still considered contradictory terms in Spain. However, over the last few years, various disabled artists have called for more opportunities for their professionalisation and for the recognition of their creative potential. The objective here is to analyse them and to reflect on their artistic and political contributions to the representation of disability. These projects represent a challenge to conventional codes by positioning corporal diversity at the centre of the creative process. They play with cultural notions of functionality and capacity as well as beauty and desirability, challenging the concept of disability as a fixed reality.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability
• performance
• crip
• disability culture
• queer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Andrea García-Santesmases Fernández has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Barcelona with a thesis about gender identity, disability and sexuality.

Miriam Arenas Conejo is a researcher and a lecturer in Sociology, Disability Studies and Education, working at the University of Barcelona and the Open University of Catalonia.

Notes

1. Play written and directed by Emili Corral, inspired by the Spanish book Living as a Homosexual and Disabled (González 2005).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Asociación Roosevelt XII Beca de Investigación en Arte y Discapacidad.