Artistic Practices in Lockdown: Resistance and Collectivism during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Portugal

Abstract

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the precariousness and working conditions of artists and cultural workers globally, including Portugal. Through the research project Práticas Artísticas Confinadas: Resistência e Coletivismo na Pandemia Covid-19 em Portugal (Artistic Practices in Lockdown: Resistance and Collectivism during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Portugal), undertaken between December 2021 and June 2022, it was possible to conclude that amid this crisis, Portuguese cultural workers mobilised collectively to advocate for labour rights, expose irregularities within cultural institutions and secure access to cultural and artistic production. Drawing on these findings, this article focuses on how the restrictions on the use of physical public spaces, which are privileged arenas for protest and participatory democracy as defined by the Portuguese Constitution, compelled these workers to devise alternative approaches to sustain their activism. Thus, the paper examines the strategies employed by cultural workers to circumvent the restrictions by adapting and subverting these spatial limitations. The article concludes with an analysis of how the use of art practices and the performativity of these strategies were crucial in ensuring the continuation of social mobilisation and democratic exercise.