CREED_DIY: Crisis, resistance, emergence, expression, and dissidence in artistic alternatives in contemporary Portugal

This article explores the existence of an alternative artistic sub-field in contemporary Portugal, grounded in the DIY ethos. Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of artistic fields, it argues that DIY is central to the emergence and consolidation of artistic manifestations within this sub-field. Our approach incorporates insights from the cultural turn and post-subcultural theory, with particular attention to DIY cultures. Those initiatives, while facing commodification and institutionalization, also face structural precarity in the Portuguese cultural sector, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through qualitative methods – interviews and content analysis – the study identifies DIY as a practice of resistance and adaptability. Despite tensions and pressures, DIY remains an essential dimension of these artistic initiatives, playing a crucial role in underpinning the alternative tendency of this sub-field, as well as its cultural and sociological relevance in contemporary Portugal.