The how of political acting: Infrastructural improv through social choreography – Local case studies in Helsinki

Abstract

This article explores how choreographed movement, through its collective orientation, builds political agency. How might shared gestures reform the public space and lay ground for new social structures to grow, structures that are restorative and reparative against the extraction that is commanding the way of life? This how is addressed by looking at the social choreographies common moves in 2023 and Make Arts Policy! in 2014, both realised in the sociocultural environment of Helsinki, Finland. These social choreographies engage in facilitating an active presence that emerges in shared movement. The article explores the political aspect of choreography as a rehearsal ground for new types of social structures and relations to emerge. This aestheticopolitical possibility is considered through the notions of common and affective infrastructures, namely through Lauren Berlant’s theorising. The case studies together with the theoretical perspectives offer a lens to look at the local gestures that have in their own ways ruptured the status quo, even momentarily. The ripples of these instances resonate and keep their movement alive. Altering and claiming the public space in unexpected ways enable new types of social structures to emerge. This article discusses the notions of agency and social change: movement and speculation, as well as the senses and emotions that tie into the aesthetic experience that emerges in social choreography.