Marcela Oteiza: City, Site and Memory: Santiago through the lens of street performance

A city is a layered site used and lived by many. It is a space where everything has multiple meanings: a building serves as a destination for some and a metaphor for others. Public spaces become overcrowded with the ghosts of politics, old and current. The city where street performances are enacted becomes a permeable scenographic space by incorporating its characteristics into a given production's dramaturgy. Here I analyze the exchange that occurs between street performances featured at Festival Internacional Santiago a Mil between 2012 and 2015 and the public sites they occupy. I show how the exchange between audience and site promotes the blurring of the audience - performer space, by reclaiming the performative qualities of a given urban space for the community.