Fusco Reading

In Fusco’s, “Introduction: Latin American Performance and the Reconquista of Civil Space,” what I found most interesting was his discussion of the various generalizations about Latin American cultural production, and how it can differ in other places throughout the world. In exploring the first generalization, he brings in the example of the Dadaists’ usage of the Cabaret Voltaire, the circus, and other forms of theater that were used (page 7). Similarly, popular forms of theater and cabarets in the Caribbean have become inspiration for some Latin American performance artists.

The second generalization Fusco discusses is the use of rituals and religious. Europeans tended to look at non-Western performances for their avant-garde theater. For example, Hugo Ball reading primitivist poems phonetically, Surrealists looking to the dances and rituals of the Native Americans, and even the adaptation of the improvisational style seen by black jazz musicians (page 7). However, Fusco argues that Latin American artists have looked within their own cultures, such as Pre-Columbian, colonial, African and Catholic traditions (page 7-8).

The third generalization involves what the author calls, “the spatialization of power” (page 8.). Fusco explains that in the history of performance, there are formal shifts made by the medium. “In light of the determinant role the art market has placed in the classification and evaluation of European and American art, it makes perfect sense that artists seeking to address the spatial articulations of this powerful institution would make such moves” (page 8). But Fusco argues that Latin Americans have had to face other issues, such as the state’s control over the art market in certain places. However, the state’s power over art does not end there, but it also exercises power on the bodies of their citizens (page 9). Fusco refers to the disappearance of citizens, the abuse by military and police, and even the censuring of political opposition (page 9). I found it most interesting that Fusco parallels this abuse of power to that of the “xenophobic treatment of the Latino subaltern in the U.S.,” such as border patrol, segregated neighborhoods, etc. (page 9).