Festive events have always been embedded in local, regional and/or translocal economies, based on capitalist, but also alternative models and modes of exchange. Hence, the economies of festive events require analysis at different levels: 1. The global, local and micro-local economic and political context of their preparation, realization and impact; 2. The individual and collective exchange relations between the main actors, participants and spectators and their personal and institutional attitudes towards the economic models.
Following a presentation of conceptual and theoretical reflections on the economies of festive events, I will outline the empirical insights gained in the framework of the European Research Council (ERC) funded ARTIVISM project. This project explores various artistic forms of political expression, including performances, festive events, carnivals and carnivalesque forms of demonstration, applying multi-sensory and audiovisual ethnography to various field sites in France, Italy, Cameroon and California. Starting from a historical perspective, this paper focuses on the (alternative) economy of official and independent carnivals in Viareggio and Nice, as well as their translocal connections.