As one of the most notable manifestations of the so-called “economy of friendship” in Latin America, Cheverismo has managed to question a system of art that has been propagated on rigid platforms, restricted capital, a sometimes precarious public sector and a bureaucratic way of doing things. It is here that Cheverismo achieves the merit of operating from a place of informality, hoping to maintain consistency with certain material conditions in Latin America and with a critical notion of labor, based on pleasure and humor.
I should clarify that I find the idea of an “economy of friendship” problematic; I prefer to believe that there is Economy and then there is Friendship (with a capital ‘E’ and a capital ‘F’), and that there are friends with whom we work—thankfully—and songs like Why Can’t We Be Friends? by the funk band War.