THE CONTINUITY OF DRIFTING By Nina Fuentes & Gerardo Zavarce Sickness, medical treatment in the island of Cuba and the death of President Hugo Chávez on March 5th, 2013, formally represents the beginning of a process that could be described as the «Post- Chávez era». Nevertheless, this chronological neologism does not mean to describe the radical transformation on what we have known as the «Bolivarian process», but, on the other hand point out its increasing, under the impulse of political choices that made democratic institutions fail in purpose. And in parallel, all Venezuelan society. The death of President Chavez was just the announcement of the tragical continuity of the political model known as «Socialism of the 21st Century». The unconstitutional turn towards a fake socialist model represented Participative Democracy as a wreck of 1999’s National Constitution. The positioning of Nicolas Maduro’s to presidency is a testimony of this adrift democracy. Venezuela’s current regime could be considered an imperfect dictatorship. An autocracy consolidated in the absence of Power distribution which impostures a political façade, forced to celebrate elections far from fair, and depart from democracy. The Venezuelan democratic crisis manifests where values have bottomed out and Human rights are being threatened. Under this concept, cultural processes play an important role as they become a way of social mobilization and (re)construction of the democratic net. Artistic practices become a territory for participation, involvement and resistance. This catalyzes new ways of allowing democratic expectations that have only been threatened by totalitarianism, reductionism, and monochromatic way of thinking. BETRAYED PARTICIPATION A WAY OF LOOKING INTO THE VENEZUELAN CULTURE POLITICS Currently there aren’t any sources to evaluate the cultural politics with an official profile in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Furthermore, a series of investigations have systematized and documented the shades of cultural action throughout the years in which the The Bolivarian process has being taken place. The titles are somehow eloquent: The culture under harassment (La cultura bajo acoso) by María Elena Ramos, The Barren Republic (La República baldía) by Luis Perez Oramas, The docile body (El cuerpo dócil) by Manuel Silva Ferrer, Venezuela, the country that is always being born (Venezuela, el país que siempre nace) by Gisela Kozak Rovero, amongst others. We can suggest that by interpreting the perspective of official cultural action we have in our hands a cultural politic that is stablished by the narrowness of an ideological group, handled by the same people in power who also are in charge of Public Institutions. There’s no sign of cultural politics based on the State, where complex dynamics can be expressed, room for Venezuelan culture itself or social diversity. It is no longer a matter of whether there is or isn’t a cultural politic of the State. We can conceive it as an action coming from ideological narrowness stablished by the group that maintains itself in political power, even when a frame of reference has been institutionalized for democratic ways of government gathered in 1999’s Constitution. Specially democracy conceived as participative & protagonists. The model for “Socialism of the 21st century” has been characterized for instrumentalizing public politics based on political cooptation through a picky management of the country’s oil money, without any planning or financial control. This has suppressed (and repressed with strength, violating fundamental rights) citizen’s participation, and has led it to be a dictatorship, an only way of thought. The aspirations towards a participative model that could be a reference for a bigger scope in democracy, have been betrayed. The same way as the Republic’s Constitution. Venezuela’s paradox is in fact, that these before mentioned Constitution (CRBV1999), proposed a gathering of laws that work as a starting point for improving a possible cultural action project focused on human development. In its foreword it declares creation and cultural enjoyment in full liberty framed by a multicultural society whose essential diversity must be respected and also its concerns regarding culture in chapter 6, dedicated to “Educational and Cultural Rights”. But in praxis makes no sense. Fifteen years later after de promulgation of the Constitution, through a Consulting Referendum, the Organic Law on Culture was approved without social consultation. By a decree of habilitating law, awarded to President Nicolas Maduro. Bolivarian revolution affirms that an organic law on culture was approved by betraying democracy proclaimed in the Constitution itself. As an alternative to context of official politics that are promoted by the so called “Bolivarian Process” we find many creators, both national and international that have been developing literary, visual, theatrical, musical, audiovisual artistic and cultural expressions, even towards human rights that are at the margin and openly against this official regime. The true cultural politic has been independent action. That which has emerged as an alternative to crisis and in opposition to totalitarian vision of what is considered official culture. This cultural politic conceived from emergency is the example that makes boundaries noticeable for the limits of official cultural action to show and its false pretensions of inclusion promoted by its propaganda. Even the cultural politics is drive by the government desires and the state cultural infrastructure lack of basic services as water , electricity or even capacity to make payroll payments It is an imperative task to recognize some of these initiatives. Noticeable capacity of free speech and social mobilization in public spaces, the patrimony, cultural diversity, knowledge for democracy, the city as a right, memory, the strengthening of the social net, solidarity...all of this as examples of democracy. THE RAFT OF CULTURAL PRACTICES THE MEDUSA OR EMERGENCY Gericault’s painting of Medusa’s raft is one of the referents for representing what is in fact happening in Venezuela: emergency and society a drift. In this context, independent cultural practices, or of hybrid nature in alliance with local manifestations as NGO’s, Major offices and Universities, allow us to sketch what could be considered as an alternative cultural practice. It is about building new ways to cultural practice and avoiding the harassment of anything that stands for the opposite of democracy. MACZUL EXPERIENCE TRANSFORMING A SPACE IN TIMES OF CRISIS MACZUL Museum of Contemporary Art of Zulia as many museums was almost going to close. Totally broke and without any possibility to be finance by the national government. It doesn’t belong to the National Museum System with brought the possibility of private finance. In 2015 the museum of contemporary art of Zulia (MACZUL) gets immerse in a radical transformation process based on the opening of its spaces to the community of national and international artists.The key to understanding this new model of group leadership is the presence of a group of artists in its directive board who's organization practices comes from a different background such as artistic creation. This has allowed to add imagination within the working programs to generate alternatives in a context characterized by crisis. For example, instead of closing the spaces for exhibits because of the lack of budget and official help, they had decided to keep them open by managing it themselves. They have knitted an ecological creation mesh that conforms a space for performing, learning and action, focusing on responding to the uncertainty. The result has been surprising; a larger number of exhibits, visitors, alliances and support. This institutional transformation was consider the new MACZUL era. This process’ main key has been incorporating imagination and flexibility as action politics, and cultural managing focused in the idea of transformation. MACZUL has accomplished this wish and made it visible, showing its individual and collective goal for renewal and transformation. This has meaning in a context where change is impossible. It is a paradox that in a country going through revolution, nothing is in fact changing. The museum left behind its traditional structure and program, to make room for an unorthodox and flexible program within its space. I AM VENEZUELA This platform is oriented towards working the cultural patrimony, tangible & intangible through the perspective of registration, documentation, investigation and the asset of patrimony for citizenship. It began as an initiative for Institutional Assets and Monuments (IAM), an organization of Arts Connection foundation, meant to urgently protect patrimony in Venezuela’s context of emergency. The projects main goal is to connect people with memory and history through its relationship with patrimony. Different initiatives derive from its proposing’s which are oriented to generate and conform a community that performs all sorts of practices around the Patrimonial facts. This strategy, where different speeches, practices and visions strengthen cultural inheritance together with a state of the art technology promoted by ARC as photogrammetry , are conformed by students, public institutions, cultural promoters, museologists, communities and general audience. All the actions and creative spaces are documented, systematized, and spread through the website of the project and social media. Proposals for entrepreneurship and innovation are connected though sustainable strategies which gather the patrimony with experiences of value towards memory, and urban acupuncture. Empathy towards the citizens and their historic memory are identity references that prevent patrimony from being victim of ideological vandalism or governmental lack of care, as preservation is not contemplated in it politics’ priority. El Calvario’s Open House It is conceived as a project that seeks to experiment, explore and intervene on popular urban territory, focused on the idea of “Barrios Son Ciudad”. Its name comes from the experience derived from Barrio El Calvario (El Hatillo, Caracas, Venezuela). Three editions have been made so far: 2015, 2016, 2017. It invites community members to participate as main actors of the experience that unfolds side to side with Local power figures (from Majors office), urbanists, architects, reading promotors, artists, cultural organizations such as the Venezuelan Endowment for the arts (VAEA), Arts Connection Foundation, artists and urban intervention collectives, amongst others. Essentially, the project seeks to close the gap that divides the historic side with the sector known as El Calvario. An urban division that is also a “Barrio”. El Calvario’s Open House is an exercise of integration where the community opens its doors for a tour with different activities in a meeting that allows to know the neighborhood and make possible the confluence of touristic dynamics that are made locally. The activity is developed in the creation of micro-utopias for the senses that involve the city’s intervention, as an alternative to make the community the stage for the building of a collective choreography that makes visible and possible our relation with the city and its instances. Making the neighborhood a stage is just the beginning for ephemeral intervention as a cultural display for city touring, cultural action, experience propitiation, cultural democracy and people’s participation. SENSIBLE LEARNINGS Sensible Learnings is a project that derives from “Todo Terreno” (2012-2017) of artistic intervention in non-conventional spaces, initially conceived for the Feria Iberoamericana de Arte Caracas. It explores urban spaces with an emphasis in places meant for education, health, and public places for individual and collective recreation like parks, and other areas, with the purpose of making artistic practices and interventions. This proposal is of an experimental nature that looks forwards to the dialogue, and creation amongst artists, architects, designers and community members to make creative interventions in public spaces and generate learning possibilities. Its methodology is centered on the idea of ideological confluence centered on the creation that generates transformation processes where the purpose must be different from the initial situation and make room for dialogues about learning through experience. Revisar coherencia Sensible Learnings is the complement for creating processes where an artist dialogues with a community to transform a school, street, plaza, hospital, only to mention a few examples. Conceiving and propitiating artistic practices articulated from the notion of sensible learning. This generates different results as the rehabilitation of diverse public spaces but also the rehearsing of new ways of organization and ways of experiencing the place we inhabit from our individual and collective perspective. PERFORMANCE PLATFORM (P3) A flexible and diverse structure made for promoting the performance practice in the Venezuelan context, who’s sustainability is possible by self-management strategies. The project was born in 2015, motivated by a void in the cultural field relating the action and performance arts. It propones to generate audiences for cultural art practices, working on learning processes, exchange a cultural cooperation. Creating a quality performance event is one of its main goals, as having national and international participation. Its structure is based in the net of action where you knit or unknit depending on the context. It also makes alliances with the structures of the Art Market to make possible the alliances with collectors that have interests in adding action pieces t heir archives. Carlos Salazar Lermont, one of the project’s founders, establishes: “One of the special characteristics of this platform is its conscience of working towards a net nationally and internationally. Likewise, a dialogue with the curators that allowed making specialized content and an appreciation for performance in such a complex context as the Venezuelan Culture” It’s clear that the proposal emerges to fill an enormous void in the promotion of the arts in Venezuela. Working towards the conformation of new audiences and dialogues amongst its own makers from different generations. Beyond organizing the events, the focus is organizing and infrastructure for performance practice I Venezuela that allows to balance the deficient official cultural field. Three programs are made: Bang, Creative encounter for thought for Body artists from Venezuela, Bridges, for both national and international artists, and the Bienal internacional de performances Caracas which has a global impact. ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP LAB FOR NON VIOLENCE Civilian demands for democratic demands that occurred in 2017, generated a script of violence amongst citizens that demanded opening for democracy and public order to be heard. As consequence, Active Citizenship Lab for Non-Violence is born as an exploration space to break the wearing out dynamics in massive protect that where repressed through the excessive use of force by the military institution, at the governments service. Breaking this script’s structure is what makes urgent the Active Citizenship Lab for NonViolence. Going through inertia of confronting people’s action and finding a flexible area for organizing action nets bound together by the purpose of conceiving never explored strategies and new ways of protest for economic, political, social and cultural rights. This proposal allows a collective manner that allows to openly question the bases on which president Nicolas Maduro is sustaining its antidemocratic practices. Furthermore, it evaluates the ongoing experiences that have been able to advance as a protest initiative. This surrounds metaphorically the dynamics of a lab as a space for dialogue, analysis, and protest practice instrumentalization. It has also made room for articulating parallel practices for reinforcing the self in its society, collective initiatives for diverse democracy that are focused on rights for one and for all as equals. CONCLUSIONS We have begun describing how cultural action has a role in experience conformation that allows to make new reference for resistance in political crisis context. Proposing diverse cultural alternatives allow to explore and experience new democratic ways. We encourage documenting and systematizing this initiatives to help visualize the realities to come and comprehend the challenges we are facing in a present threatened by the emergency of antidemocratic forces of a totalitarian way of thought of the so- called Bolivarian process that continue showing its nature of the Post- Chavez era and XXI Century Socialism.
