Brenda Werth’s Fictions of the Real traces the transformation of “the real” and its transnational conceptualization by Argentine artists in the twenty-first century, focusing on artists who engage in both documentary theater and filmmaking. Werth places the work of Lola Arias, Romina Paula, Federico León, Mariano Pensotti, and Grupo Krapp in dialogue with the distinct but intertwined lineages of theater and film exploring the intermedial dimensions of these artists’ theatrical work, resonances in their documentary films, and the transmedial relationships between their documentary plays and films. Focusing on the dynamic and shifting context of Argentina between 1998 and 2023, a period roughly bookmarked by the economic crisis of 2001 and the COVID-19 pandemic, this book explores how these artists disrupt the relations of power and counter political manipulation with their own evocative fictions of the real as they engage in the roles of translators, curators, researchers, archivists, and collaborators.

Brenda Werth is Associate Professor of Latin American and Spanish Studies and Department Chair of World Languages and Cultures at American University. She is the coeditor of Bodies on the Front Lines: Performance Gender, and Sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Contents
 
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Primary Works and Premieres
Introduction: Argentina’s Culture of the Real
1. Lola Arias: Researching the Past through Stunt Doubles and Time Machines
2. Federico León: Everything is an Archive; Everything is Recorded
3. El Grupo Krapp: A Collaborative Choreography of Affects
4. Romina Paula: Translating the Fantasy of the Real
5. Mariano Pensotti: Curating Live Novels and Impossible Films
Conclusion: Deepfake Politics and Fictions of the Real
Notes
Bibliography