What is „duende“?
“I think opening a grave means closing a wound,” says Laura García Lorca, as efforts begin to locate the grave of her uncle, executed and disappeared by the fascist gangs of Franco’s dictatorship. One of the bloodiest chapters of fascism left behind half a million dead and disappeared, and displaced more than a million people. The exhumation of a single grave cannot cleanse this history, nor can it heal the wounds of millions. Every wound that is left to fester, covered but unattended, becomes gangrenous—turning, in other words, into a swamp. “I think opening a grave means closing a wound,” García Lorca repeats, as the search for the grave begins. Duende, described as “the hidden soul of grieving” lands, is itself a manifestation of these open wounds, these swamps of unhealed memory.
The remedy for this never-healing wound lies in the otherness and creativity of art. Duende tends to the edges of these wounds, approaching the places where form melts away, driven by a desire that exceeds its apparent expressions. Duende lives in every voice rising from the depths -whether traversing darkness or breaking into revolt- and in all that carries these voices. Each of these dark voices is an enigma, their roots lodged in the mud, yet bringing forth the essence of art. Duende is not a matter of skill but of desire, of struggle —a force of creation born in the raw moment of existence and action.
Who is duende?
As such, Duende is the name of an autonomous space where those who seek its dark voice meet and let their voices converge. Duende is a collective of people who create art and knowledge together, who value the joy of working in company, and who embark on a journey to discover new paths of creation through solidarity and cooperation. Duende is made up of those who choose dialogue over hierarchy, and equality over domination, opening alternative channels for expression. Duende gathers to produce art and knowledge that are critical, liberating, and aligned with the struggles of the oppressed, standing firmly against all borders. Duende refuses to treat art and knowledge as private property. It insists on their collective nature and that they belong to all. Duende remains open to collaborating with other collectives and individuals, sustained by solidarity, carried forward by cooperation.
Duende convenes at the intersection of anti-capitalism, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-hierarchy. In the same spirit, it rejects all forms of discrimination, whether based on race, sex, gender identity or expression, age, or culture. Duende stands against male dominance, against heterosexism, against western-centrism, white supremacy, and human-centrism alike. Duende recognizes all forms of fascism, both old and new, as pathological. It identifies the neo-fascisms of our time -those fueled by hostility toward migrants and refugees, by the resurgence of neo-racism- as dangerous forces to be resisted without compromise.
Beyond all borders!
Duende knows no borders, respects no borders; more than that, it rejects every border. Duende resists the politics of division and enclosure. Through its creations and practices of solidarity, Duende resists the politics of division and enclosure. Against every border, every mold, every act of molding, it answers with creation. Duende dreams of an egalitarian world, free of borders, classes, and exploitation. Through collective action and creation, here and now, it seeks to open pathways toward that imagined world. Duende joins hands with all who resist borders, classes, discrimination, and exploitation in cultural, and artistic spheres, in order to create together. Duende acts in solidarity with creators of ideas and art who are oppressed and subjected to violence around the world. Duende supports them, amplifies their voices. Without engaging in any ethical or intellectual violation, Duende strives to provide a space for the works of the oppressed and the marginalized, strengthening their resistance through creation.
Duende builds bridges between cultures, grounded in the belief that cultural crossroads are fertile, productive, and enduring. Duende affirms that every culture, every people, every person is beautiful in their own colorfulness and motley assemblage, and that cultures cannot be divided. Duende insists that all cultural, artistic, and intellectual creation belongs to all living beings of the world. Duende values the motility and variability of culture, and its endless capacity for reconstruction through dialogue and negotiation. Culture and art provide a suitable platform for collectively creating stories that build a world free of classes and exploitation, as well as a significant field for resistance.
Duende comes together with the cry: “Home is where we resist!” Every place of resistance becomes its home. It embraces all actors —migrants and new migrants, those who reject every notion of home or homeland, those whose houses and living spaces have been destroyed, those who build homes knowing they will one day be torn down, those displaced and forced into exile, refugees and immigrants who must adopt new lands as their own.
Duende is committed to the goal of living collectively in peace and diversity. It embraces the policies of friendship, peace, and collaboration as the foundation of solidarity. Duende establishes the dynamics of such solidarity not based on identities, but on a collective struggle against oppression and exploitation, while preserving genuine diverse voices. Duende is vigilant against attempts by the dominant discourse to divide the oppressed into smaller groups based on given or essential identities. Duende strongly rejects imposed essentialist, uniformitarian, and heterogeneous identity consciousness, as well as all kinds of chauvinism. Duende views identity and culture as transitive and polymorphic spaces that are productive and open to negotiation and transformation. Rather than trying to purge “the other,” Duende fosters the creative and productive potential that emerges from contact with “the other.” Duende believes collective salvation comes from solidarity and standing together without rejecting adopted identities.
“Home is where we laugh!”, and laughter is the weapon of those who resist. Duende creates not for any obligation/duty/compulsion or gain but for having again, for feeling joy again, for enjoying again and for carnivalising life again. Conforming binds the person to the authority. Duende rejects the conformity and docility that push one into adopting what already exists; it prefers challenging and freedom against submissiveness.
Duende keeps learning from the route on which it creates and resists. Duende does not bind itself to holy texts or rigid canons. Every place it inhabits is only a passage toward the next. This is not a matter of being without principles, but rather of embracing a necessary irregularity that is believed to encourage critical thinking, questioning, renewal, and movement ever forward.
Duende is the opposite of a centralized structure. Instead of rigid borders and predefined frameworks, Duende chooses an open-ended, mobile form —guided by the principle of mutual collaboration with individuals and collectives, and by the desire to create together. Duende dismantles hierarchies in creation, education, and research, moving instead toward dialogic, active, and interactive methods. Duende refuses to be confined by disciplines and actively seeks to dissolve the artificial borders between art, academia, and politics. Duende renounces a universe design dominated by a single perspective, beauty concept, consideration, etc. Duende avoids limiting itself to a specific style, field, or master, as it does not want to become buried within itself or contribute to such a hierarchical universe.
Solidarity against competition and exploitation!
Duende does not create according to the rules of the market; the hysteria of capitalism is of no consequence to it. Duende does not believe in the virtue of work as glorified by capital, and it opposes every form of slavery. Duende creates by siding with nature against the culture of consumption -driven to extremes by capitalism and inflamed by industrial-technological society- and by siding with life against the culture of death produced by militarism. Duende refuses the role of passive observer. Against the impositions of consumption and competition, Duende places collective creation, collective reason, and collective imagination. Duende sees collective creation and production as a means of resistance against dominant dominant molds of consciousness that seek to confine the subordinate to the position of audience and consumer, keeping them away from knowledge and art. Duende accepts the world as the home of all living beings. Duende envisions and joins the collective struggle against imperialism, which operates globally and penetrates even the remotest corners. Duende recognizes the nation-state as the Siamese twin of imperialism. Duende acts according to this principle: “Whoever steals our energy, our labor, our health, the nature of which we are an extension, our minds, our laughter, and our grounds for solidarity —those are our enemies. And our neighbors are those with whom we resist together against exploitation and oppression.”
Duende is open to collaboration with those who embrace the ethical and intellectual principles of the collective, and upon whom its members have no reasonable objection. These principles are binding, yet always open to discussion and review. No member holds authority to impose sanctions on another. There are no decision-makers; decisions are discussed and reached collectively. No one is compelled to follow a decision they oppose or do not agree with; they may not be compelled to follow them. The right to dissent is a vital field of liberty within the collective, and no sanction may be applied against it. At the same time, anti-authoritarian and anti-hierarchical mechanisms may not be distorted to obstruct collective creation or to consolidate personal power. Participation in collective actions is voluntary, left to each individual’s choice. For functionality, some members may temporarily assume responsibility for certain tasks. This responsibility does not grant them power, but simply ensures implementation of collectively made decisions. Those in charge can be recalled or reassigned whenever necessary. One of the core dynamics of collective creation is taking initiative when required. Every member has the right -and the responsibility- to act, provided such initiatives do not contradict the reflexes and principles of the collective. Like all actions, initiatives are subject to discussion, and through this process the collective’s reflexes may be updated. For a collective centered on creation and creativity, personal initiative and individual creativity are essential. Each member therefore holds the right to act as pioneer in proposing, organizing, and carrying out workshops or projects.