Layers of Memory: Loci of Enunciation and Site-Specific Performance

Abstract

This article examines how the site-specific performance Streaming de la memoria by Compañía de Funciones Patrióticas redefines spaces in the Almagro neighborhood of Buenos Aires, transforming them into territories of memory. The article also contextualizes March 24 as a pivotal date for commemorating the history of state terrorism in Argentina and explores how the performance collective Compañía de Funciones Patrióticas intervenes in symbolic neighborhood sites, such as Confitería Las Violetas, linking local memories with recent historical events. Through site-specific staging and a focus on “Relato Situado” (situated story), the performance engages participants in actions of memory, fostering collective and affective experiences. The methodology of this article combines elements of Participatory Action Research and autoethnography to demonstrate how the performance interventions of Compañía de Funciones Patrióticas illuminate hidden memories and redefine urban space as an “expanded theater,” intertwining everyday life with the political sphere. The article concludes that these practices generate a “geopoetics of memory,” allowing residents to experience public space as a site of resistance and historical reflection, where the past is activated and re-signified in the present.