LASTESIS (styled all in capital letters) are a Chilean interdisciplinary, intersectional and trans-inclusive feminist collective, whose members are Sibila Sotomayor Van Rysseghem, Daffne Valdés Vargas and Paula Cometa Stange. Sotomayor and Valdés are from a theater background, while Cometa from a background in design and history. The collective’s name embodies the group's interest in promoting the tesis (theses) of important feminist thinkers, such as Silvia Federici and Rita Segato, in their performances. LASTESIS direct their performances toward institutionalized sexual violence against women committed by police, government officials, and other systems of power. An important component of LASTESIS’ anti-patriarchal art is their choreography: distinct movements that transition as each song unfolds in front of the audience and which engage the audience.
The collective is most prominently known for their performance of “Un Violador en tu Camino” (A Rapist in Your Path), a song with accompanying choreography that was first staged in front of a police station by a small group during a protest on 20 November 2019 in Valparaíso, Chile, and then on 25 November in Santiago, Chile, as part of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women demonstrations. The performance was then replicated across Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries, and spread all over the world: London, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Tokyo, Beirut, Istanbul, Mexico City, Caracas, Lima, Buenos Aires, among other places. In Manhattan, according to The Associated Press, it caused “a commotion so loud that it could be heard in a 15th-floor courtroom.” It has been performed in over 200 locations globally. The performance was influenced by Argentine feminist anthropologist Rita Segato's studies on rape. It also drew from statistics for sexual assault in Chile, “where only 8% of resolved sexual-assault cases in 2018 ended up in some sort of conviction against the perpetrator, according to government statistics compiled by the Chilean Network Against Violence Against Women.”
Origins
The collective was formed in 2018 with the aim of engaging feminist theory, or "tesis" (thesis), through art. Their name, LASTESIS, or "the (feminine) thesis," derives from the group’s drive to promote a feminist thesis and the theses by feminist thinkers. Group members have said that their performances are conceived as an attempt to translate feminist theories into a format that would be accessible to those who would not ordinarily encounter them. “Our interventions are only 15 minutes long, the idea is for it to be like that, precise, concise and effective.” Their first performance was influenced by the writings of Italian feminist Silvia Federici and their second by the works of Argentine feminist anthropologist and decolonial thinker Rita Segato.
Notable Performances
"Patriarcado y Capital es alianza criminal" ("Patriarchy and Capital are a Criminal Alliance"), the first performance by LASTESIS, was performed in halls, academic venues and parties. It was based on Silvia Federici's book Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (2004), which explores the history of witch hunts and the murder of hundreds of thousands of women in America and Europe. Through their performance, LASTESIS ask: "How is our economic system linked to the exploited bodies of women?" At moments, performing movements inspired by Jane Fonda’s aerobics videos.
“Un Violador en tu Camino” (A Rapist in Your Path), a song with accompanying choreography that was first staged in front of a police station by a small group during a protest on 20 November 2019 in Valparaíso, Chile. The performance was influenced by Argentine feminist anthropologist Rita Segato's studies on rape. It also drew from statistics for sexual assault in Chile, “where only 8% of resolved sexual-assault cases in 2018 ended up in some sort of conviction against the perpetrator, according to government statistics compiled by the Chilean Network Against Violence Against Women.”