La Luz del Malabar

La Luz del Malabar: Art and Self-Management at the Beginning of the Century

La Luz del Malabar, written by Maru Sainz and published by Contramar Editora in 2023, explores the world of juggling through a sensitive, social, and artistic lens.

Subtitled Art and Self-Management at the Beginning of the Century, the book brings together testimonies from twenty Argentine jugglers who shaped their practice through passion, art, daily life, and cultural self-management. Based on in-depth interviews conducted in Buenos Aires between 2009 and 2011, the author creates a diverse map of experiences, creative paths, and ways of sustaining art in public space.

These interviews became the foundation of her Master’s thesis in Social Policy, presented at the University of Buenos Aires in 2015, giving the book a strong analytical framework while maintaining a vivid and human narrative voice.

What does the book explore?

• Juggling as a technical and artistic discipline
• Self-management as a form of work and organization
• Street art as a cultural territory
• The social and political dimensions of contemporary circus
• The identity of jugglers in early 21st-century Argentina

With 288 pages in a 20 x 13 cm format, this first edition (Buenos Aires, 2023) is part of the Street Art Collection, the result of a collaborative project between Contramar Editora and K8.

ISBN: 978-987-47628-8-7

More than a historical record, this book is an encounter of voices and frequencies—a restless and attentive gaze that arranges tones, colors, and rhythms to understand juggling as both artistic practice and way of life.

An essential read for artists, researchers, students, and anyone passionate about contemporary street art.