Horizontal Aesthetics and Bed Activism: Pandemic Subversive Horizontality

During the lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, artists without disabilities resorted to tactics considered as emblematic for disability art and activism. They cripped artistic practice using strategies that had been developed for years by artists and activists with disabilities. The main aim of this essay is to analyse examples of such cripping practices taking the categories of horizontal aesthetics and bed activism as a starting point. The tension between temporality and chronicity is also explored as a decisive feature in the context of the cripping of art (and other activities in public space). Finally, the article argues that the creative strategies in question have deeper roots going back to 20th century neo-avant-garde practices.