Partying as an act of creative activism.
By Aigli Andritsopoulou.
In an environment of neo-liberal economics, within which the inability to distinguish work from lifetime has become essential element of the job description, where “the worker’s soul has become part of the factory’’1 and the social relations that grow in a community are transforming into an exchange of data between/via social networks, connecting through partying can be an act of creative activism.
The practice of getting together and having fun can be another commonplace for today’s working class as a “multitude” of collective forms of subjectivity that overcomes the differences between individuals. The competitive self-interest and the isolation caused by the contemporary capitalistic system's rat race lead us towards a life of “compulsory sociality”2, in which interacting/engaging with other people equals to an exchange of information aiming to further one's career or business.
The expansion of human interaction through alternative forms of collective presence, as hanging out together in bars and clubs, private residences and other spaces where ideas are born, while getting the vibe of a community in which we live and work, by being part of the mystagogy that takes place during after hours, by dancing and partying while loving the bizarre, the experimental, the unfamiliar, the Other... That exhilarating, breathtaking, and liberating sense of experiencing freedom collectively, could be the reason for a political and social change.
Some might say that the political aspect of partying culture is long gone along with the partying scene of the revolutionary 80's and the rave 90's, however, the party is not over. Communication, solidarity, and collective action while fighting for your right to party can be the antidote to the hyper-individualism characterizing Gen Z, providing a crucial cathartic release through collective participation rather than individual competition.
People through the liberating process of the emotional transformation of their bodies into powerful mediators of what is Communal share their everyday life experiences and struggles, which can lead to a reconstruction of the way they relate to others and the environment. And then they dance, dance as a radical practice of awakening and reaction.
__________________________
1. Maurizio Lazzarato (1996) 'Immaterial Labour', trans. Paul Colilli & Ed Emory, in Paolo Virno & Michael Hardt, (eds.) _Radical Thought in Italy_, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 132-146.
2. Gill, R.C. and Pratt, C. (2008)."In the social factory? Immaterial labour, precariousness and cultural work." Theory Culture & Society 25(7-8): 1-30.
By Aigli Andritsopoulou
