From lack of air to photosynthesis: Affections, city and nature in Memoria del aislamiento

Abstract

With the Covid-19 pandemic, the performing arts had to completely change their proposals and the same happened with activism. Between artistic activism and performance art, the Relato situado project (started in 2015) of the Compañía de Funciones Patrióticas is a worthy case to think of current issues. In 2020, in addition to a virtual edition of Barrios por la memoria, they created Memoria del aislamiento, which featured monthly editions. The performance is offered as a testimony of isolation and exposes consciousness of its archive qualities. The experience of the everyday life and the return to the natural in the daily life of the city are elements to think of in these performances.

In this article I will focus on the final performance piece, since the montage makes possible to take a trip through the confinement, and it also allows a specific approach based on the connection between creation, city and nature. The performance pieces of the last edition offer a journey through the whole year 2020 and the experience of the four seasons organizes the audiovisual performance, which we could then define as a natural-urban calendar. The common thread is expressed through a return to nature in the experience of everyday life in the city. That is to say, the performances expose the creative power of the everyday life and the relationship with nature stands out as a looking for sun, the need of photosynthesis, the return to the animal and the presence of elements such as fire, sky, water, air. In consequence, the performance appears as an affective and natural calendar. That is why we will use the elements of theories of affect to analyze the relationships between art, experience and nature.