Indocile bodies of the nation: Argentine performance in times of hate

Abstract

This paper focuses on two performances that took place in recent years in Argentina: Diarios del odio (by Silvio Lang and O.R.G.I.E.) and Purgatorio, by Mateo de Urquiza and Marcelo Estebecorena. The former is a reenactment of an installation by the artists Roberto Jacoby and Syd Krochmalny carried out by a group of twenty performers on stage; the latter is a solo performance by Estebecorena. Both pieces are based on an archival work that collects written comments that have been made or posted on different Argentine media and social networks between 2014 and 2018. More specifically, they explore the affective and emotional charge that language brings into play in instances of insults, rejection and expulsion of otherness' be that related to sex, race, or gender. Diarios concentrates on the comments of anonymous readers on social media, and Purgatorio on the oral statements that well-known politicians or celebrities have made on TV. Ultimately, what these performances disclose are the ways in which hate has been embraced as a collective form of expression that has redefined what can and cannot be said in a regional context of neoliberal and conservative reaction.