Don't Move! Choreography as a Means of Arranging Protest in Times of Curfew

Abstract

Abstract: This article investigates protesting when there are restrictions on public assembly. In spring 2020, social movements (partly unwittingly) used choreographic means in order to deal with the prohibition of public gatherings, imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Examples in Tel Aviv ( Black Flag protest, 19 April) and the campaign Empty Chairs in Germany (24 April) have one prominent characteristic in common: The lack of expansive spatial movement. The article delineates the ways in which these protests aimed to make their voices heard: Choreographic arrangements of physically distanced bodies were assigned on site to produce highly affective images for social media, thus shifting the focus of the protests' visibility into the online public sphere. In addition, the different situations of vulnerable bodies calling to action are of interest: Given the pandemic times, the concept of protection takes precedence.