When Cultural Workers Become an Urban Social Movement: Political Subjectification and Alternative Cultural Production in the Macao Movement, Milan

This paper explores the relationship between cultural production and insurgent political activity. The specific context for the study is the urban cultural movement of Macao, in Milan. Macao is an urban social movement that aims to challenge neoliberal cultural production and neoliberal urban politics through alternative cultural production models. The overarching argument is that Macao pursues its subjectification process through aesthetic tactics: the process of the formation of a political subject passes through arts and creative expressions to impact and reconfigure the sensible domain. This collective subject is created by: first, reappropriating urban spaces; second, enacting alternative practices of cultural production; and third, guerrilla branding tactics. Ultimately, the paper explores the potential of alliances between urban struggles and struggles over commodification and exploitation of culture.