RECLAIMING
To talk about claims, especially when it comes to the city, it seems to me essential to bring what the philosopher Isabelle Stengers believes means “to reclaim”, which can be translated as “to claim”. For her, claiming something from which we were separated does not mean reconquering it the way it was before, but regenerating from the separation itself, learning what it takes to inhabit it again.
It means reactivating what we were separated from, but not in the sense that we can simply regain it. To recover means to recover from the separation itself, regenerating what the separation itself has poisoned.
“'Reclaiming', in fact, is irreducibly associated with 'cure', 'reappropriate', 'learn/teach again', 'fight', 'become able to restore life where it is poisoned'”. [1]
Stengers also argues that, although the claim cannot be reduced to the fruition of an idea, the assemblages that occur in the rhizome of Deleuze and Guatarri [2] can deepen this process, as these connections serve to heal and learn, often from the criticism.
FORMLESS CITY
“If, like art, the task of architecture is to imagine alternative ways/worlds of being and acting in space - especially in the city space, in 'public space' - it is time to reclaim the formless city.” [3]
The article “Reclaiming a city without form”, by the architect and professor Otavio Leonidio, is also an essential reference for thinking about the act of claiming, and how our bodies operate in the city he calls “without form”.
Briefly explaining, the city as a form is one in which space is captured by historical time and which has been represented and mapped for years. It is also one in which a specific body is required according to its laws, systems and economies - the State apparatus.
The city without form, then, starts from the abandonment of the city as a form, it is a claim of a banished, exiled city, which no longer allows the act of thinking, imagining and, above all, of occupying.
“If the city as a form requires and defines a “specific” body, used to its general economy, the formless city demands an alternative body: a fictional and prosthetic body/non-body. An anachronistic and dislocated body, which simultaneously is and is not; a nonspecific and paraphenomenological body that operates leaps, discontinuities, anachronisms and all kinds of spatiotemporal folds.” [3]
If, as stated in the article, the “public space” is what defines the “public” and not the other way around, the body that inhabits the formless city claims this defining space of a socially, ethnically and politically excluding and suppressing public act. to occupy. This body, therefore, claims the ground.
NO MORE "FIU FIU"
In 2013, the campaign “Chega de Fiu Fiu” was launched by the organization Think Olga to discuss harassment against women and their right in public spaces. In 2018, as part of the campaign, the documentary of the same name was released, directed by Amanda Kamanchek and Fernanda Frazão, who had the collaboration of Juliana de Faria, founder of Think Olga , in the production of the independent feature.
The documentary develops around a key question: “What is the place of women in the city?”. From this, the feature begins by explaining how the participation of women is marked by insecurity and, also, what are the difficulties of access to these public spaces, faced daily by female bodies.
“According to a 2016 ActionAid survey, 86% of Brazilian women have experienced sexual violence or harassment in public spaces. Of them, 77% heard whistles, 57% heard sexual comments, 39% curses, 50% were followed, 44% had their bodies touched, 37% had men who showed themselves to them and 8% were raped.” [4]
“Chega de Fiu Fiu” makes use of filming devices, such as the “spy glasses”, to denounce and show how the body, identified as female, is perceived in the spaces of the city. However, in addition to the denunciation, the documentary intends to make clear how these bodies, marked by a series of violence and invisibilities present in the “city as form”, have been claiming the “city without form”, in which the right to to occupy.
For many years, women have circulated in these spaces, but they are systematically excluded from the debate and production of the city. This claim to the “city without form” uses means, explained in the documentary, that reaffirm Isabelle Stengers's own concept of claim. From the imposed separation of our bodies from the city, we regenerate what was denied to us, learning what is necessary to inhabit it again, whether through the actions of feminist movements, through protests, artistic expressions and performances, through infiltrations within the system itself. government, by raising awareness of our oppressors or by the denial of being aligned with the rules that the “city as a form” demands of us.
I conclude that, in my view, I could not bring another audiovisual reference that was more in line with contemporary issues - especially those that affect me - and with the concepts of "claim" by Isabelle Stengers and "claim for the city without form" by Otavio Leonidio, therefore, “Chega de Fiu Fiu”, boils down to claiming the ground.
WAITING FOR YOUR (RE)BACK
Another Brazilian feature that addresses the issue of occupation as a form of claim is the documentary “Espero tua (re)volta”. Directed by Eliza Capai, the audiovisual brings together footage of Brazilian youth activists ranging from the mobilizations in 2013, against the increase in bus prices and the right to mobility, to the 2018 presidential elections.
The feature mainly portrays the movement of occupation of public schools in the state of São Paulo, which took place in 2015, against the proposed change in state education that would close 93 schools and further agglomerate public education classrooms. Giving voice to three high school students, they explain their claim methods and show their daily life during the protests and occupations, to make it clear what their real goals were, distorted by some media and the government, as just vandalism. .
According to the governor at the time, Geraldo Alckmin, regarding the 2015 demonstrations that took place in downtown São Paulo: “this is unacceptable and it is not possible to have tolerance for this type of behavior and the harm to the community”. What is unacceptable? It is unacceptable not to be able to peacefully occupy and claim for the precariousness of education, a right of young people. What harm to the community? Harm of the collectivity is an oppressive government that does not allow part of this collectivity to claim without being on their terms and ends up using violence against minors.
Adolescents make a point of making their frustrations clear, one of which is the fact that the school does not debate ways to question itself and transform society, being always molded to follow rules. They also report that, for the first time, a space they attended every day – the school –, when occupied by them, turned into a different space which they had never been before, a space where each one could choose what they wanted to be. In his words “occupying the street is political” and “occupying is resisting”, in fact, in both movements, both in 2013 and in 2015, in the face of pressure and demands, the government backed off with its measures. This was only possible due to the awareness of young people that they can build their own future utopias and, as in “Chega de Fiu Fiu”, due to the struggle to claim the ground, re-appropriating a space that was denied to them and, literally, “ learning what it takes to inhabit it again.”
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
STENGERS, Isabelle. Reactivate animism . Translation Jamille Pinheiro Dias. Belo Horizonte: Chão de Feira, 2017. (Reading Book No. 62).
Explanation of izoma assemblage on the “Assembly” axis.
LEONIDIO, Octavio. Claim the formless city . Serrote, Rio de Janeiro, v. 38, p. 114-131, Jul. 2021.
Watch the documentary “chega de fiu fiu” on MIS . Secretary of Culture and Creative Economy of the State of São Paulo, 2018. Available at: https://www.cultura.sp.gov.br/assista-o-documentario-chega-de-fiu-fiu-no-mis/. Accessed on: Nov. 2021.
ENOUGH FIU FIU . Directed by: Amanda Kamanchek and Fernanda Frazão. Production with Juliana de Faria. São Paulo: Brodagem Filmes, 2018. MP4 file. (73 min.)
WAITING FOR YOUR (RE)BACK . Directed by: Eliza Capai. Production: Mariana Genesca. São Paulo: Taturana Social Mobilization, 2019. MUBI Platform. (93 min.)