Artivist Response During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Athens: Insights into Urban Subversive Festivities

Abstract

Through urban subversive festivities this paper explores artivist responses during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Athens (Greece). The disruption caused by the global pandemic in public spaces has prompted a critical examination of its role in urban claims and the evolving role of subversive festivities in artistic movements. These festivities transcend geographical boundaries and form rhizomatic networks that reclaim public spaces for political engagement through creative expression. The article focuses on urban subversive festivities from a Critical Geography point of view, opening the field to gender and decolonial studies through qualitative research including narrative interviews and mapping in urban space. We draw upon the experiences of two collectives in Athens, highlighting the transformative potential inherent in urban subversive festivities. We also argue the potential of festivities to transcend boundaries, create collective bodies, and spread as rhizomes. Ultimately, urban subversive festivities emerge as dynamic agents of change, claiming territoriality and offering new ways to understand the intersection of festivity, subversion, and public space and can be a constitutive element of resistance.