Glimpses in the void: artistic appropriations of residual areas in Aracaju

Abstract

This article starts from the premise of the city as a complex, transdisciplinary and democratic space fashioned by several agents, from the State Authority actions to private interests that influence architects and urbanists actions, and considering citizens as a principal agent. We focus on the problematization of the public space understood as the public dimension of the city: the space for the manifestation of diverse forms of citizenship, the space of coexistence and stage of economic and social conflicts. The article focuses on the work of art activism groups operating in the rescue of this space denied by neoliberal urbanism, primary translators of this hegemonic scenario which is sold us. Thus, the intention of this paper is to analyze artistic interventions as urbanistic instruments of a transformation of the character of residual spaces. We understand that this scene introduces itself as a worldwide tendency. This investigation is based on the analysis of events produced in the city of Aracaju, Brazil, such as the Sarau Debaixo, Clandestino, Batalha do Octógono and Som de Calçada, which have been important pieces on the resignification of residual spaces in the city.