On feminist activist aesthetics

This article discusses some trends in critical theory and activist aesthetics in contemporary feminist performing arts in Sweden. The 2000s have witnessed at least two "turns'' in feminist theory, namely the affective turn and the social, or as it is called here, the solidarity turn. The status of poststructuralist theory has been widely debated and Marxist, class-based analyses have returned to the political and aesthetic agenda in Sweden. The focus has shifted-once again-from individual art making to collectives who have chosen to work and fight together. The backdrop of this discussion is the shift from a social democratic welfare state to a neoliberal one. In civil society the distinction between neoliberal and social democratic lies in the extent of personal freedom(s), including sexual and reproductive rights, and whether interpersonal engagements are marked by commercialization and inequality or by mutuality and equality.