The Mural as a Happy Object. An Affective Reading of the Museo a Cielo Abierto in San Miguel (Santiago de Chile)

Abstract

The extension of muralism as a strategy for neighbourhood improvement in the city of Santiago de Chile points to the need to incorporate strategies to evaluate this form of artistic intervention. Based on a qualitative analytical approach, the article proposes to address the relationship between territory and murals from an affective perspective. Specifically, the approach to the case of the Museo a Cielo Abierto in San Miguel under the logic of "happy objects" proposed by the philosopher Sara Ahmed manages to highlight the important role played by affects in the processes of neighbourhood intervention. The elaboration of a sequence of affecting operations that allows us to recognise the capacity of agency of the murals as well as the potential of the use of the notions of disposition, orientation and direction as keys to territorial reading constitute the main results of the present research.