ABSTRACT
Repeatedly, at times of both authoritarian and democratic government, street art has turned the urban surfaces and streets of cities such as Sao Paulo, La Paz and Buenos Aires into communicative media with the potential to instruct, educate and mobilise. Yet, examples such as painting, ad-jamming, and street theatre are far from passive transmission points. They may also be performative in as far as they mediate within, challenge and even alter the political status quo. Argentine escraches for example, do not just call for an end to impunity, they enact accountability through a public shaming ritual. Painting too can disrupt and UHFRQ¿JXUHSXEOLFVSDFHVSOD\LQJZLWK WKHXUEDQDHVWKHWLF WRSUREHDWH[LVWLQJ boundaries and construct ‘anti-environments’ through which new possibilities for WKRXJKWDQGDFWLRQPD\EHUHYHDOHG,QWKLVZD\WKLQNLQJDERXWVWUHHWDUWSURPSWV a re-examination and extension of the concept of ‘political opportunity’ as it has been deployed in mainstream social movement studies.
