Situated Low-Tech Actions in Urban-Rural Settings in Colombia: Limitations of Challenging Power Through Play

• In Event: Hi-Tech, Low-Tech, Self-Tech: Tactics for the Production and Consumptions of Playful Social Public Spaces - I

Abstract

Colombia has recently experienced the implications of the peace agreement with Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) - one of the oldest guerrillas in the world - in multiple areas of everyday life. The promise of a long-lasting peace brought about hope to change everyday life for the better. Our project is situated within this vital space. We worked in the Vegalarga municipality, department of Huila. There, we collaborated with the “Mil Colores para mi Pueblo” (Thousands of Colors for my People) foundation and the Film and TV research seedbed from Politécnico Gran Colombiano, a local university. We visited Vegalarga during 7th – 9th September and 26th – 28th October 2018. During these visits, in a participatory manner, we envisioned and developed a play space that we collectively called Casa Siembra (Sowing House), in which we implemented art workshops, a photography contest, and a film forum. Through these, we identified how the Colombian conflict was imprinted on the inhabitants´ ways of relating to their own town and the forms in which they construct space. Tensions between the Colombian military, dissident guerrilla members, and politicians, hinder people´s capacity for action by leveraging old – yet still visible and palpable – fears. These not-so-invisible power relationships obstruct the enactment of individual and collective agency, which as Huizinga states, is a key component of play. After collectively building a playful space, we were told – subtly but firmly – not to return to Vegalarga. This indicates that the enactment of play through low-tech is a powerful and liberating form to challenge legal and illegal power structures, that is not yet welcome in all parts of the country.

Authors

• Leonardo Parra-Agudelo, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

• Camilo Salazar-Ferro, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia