Papers by Artur Kon
Urdimento: Revista de Estudos em Artes Cênicas
O artigo analisa a peça Oratorium, do grupo alemão She She Pop, e como ela busca retomar o modelo... more O artigo analisa a peça Oratorium, do grupo alemão She She Pop, e como ela busca retomar o modelo brechtiano da Lehrstück para uma cena política contemporânea, discutindo um dos temas mais urgentes da sociedade berlinense do seu tempo: a questão da moradia. Assim observamos como certo teatro pós-dramático e cômico encontra no “não-saber” um potencial emancipatório.
Revista Limiar, 2021
Com este ensaio, gostaria de celebrar o trabalho do professor Celso Favaretto explicitando sua co... more Com este ensaio, gostaria de celebrar o trabalho do professor Celso Favaretto explicitando sua contribuição fundamental para nossa formação. Tanto no convívio propiciado pela orientação acadêmica quanto em sua própria produção teórica, o pensador homenageado tem oferecido brilhantes ferramentas e formulações sobre a arte contemporânea, sobretudo brasileira, as quais têm enorme potencial no sentido de lançar luz sobre meu objeto de estudo, o recente teatro paulistano, ao qual ele mesmo não se dedicou com maior profundidade.
Pandaemonium Germanicum, 2021
Abordando o conjunto das chamadas "peças de fala" (Sprechstücke), as primeiras quatro obras escri... more Abordando o conjunto das chamadas "peças de fala" (Sprechstücke), as primeiras quatro obras escritas para o teatro ainda nos anos 60 por Peter Handke, Prêmio Nobel de Literatura de 2019, o ensaio busca localizar nelas mais do que o jogo autorreferencial alienado censurado por muitos num suposto pós-modernismo. Relacionando o projeto do autor com uma tradição modernista propriamente austríaca e com as preocupações de uma possível filosofia política da linguagem, investigamos essa dramaturgia como uma operação crítica em relação a um funcionamento coercitivo da linguagem, para ao fim relacionar esse interesse com sua posição na história do teatro, propondo seu papel chave para compreender a cena contemporânea.
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Addressing the set of so-called "spoken plays" or "speech plays" (Sprechstücke), the first four works written for the theater in the 1960s by Peter Handke, 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature, the essay seeks to locate in them more than the alienated self-referential game condemned by many in a supposed postmodernism. Relating the author's project with a properly Austrian modernist tradition and with the concerns of a possible political philosophy of language, we investigate his playwriting as a critical operation in relation to the coercive function of language, in order to finally relate this interest to its position in theater history, proposing its key role in understanding the contemporary scene.
Revista Sala Preta, 2020
O presente ensaio visa analisar e confrontar duas obras que poderiam ser consideradas modelos ou ... more O presente ensaio visa analisar e confrontar duas obras que poderiam ser consideradas modelos ou manifestos do Teatro Oficina: Bacantes (1996) e O banquete (2009). Interpretando-as como um díptico, isto é, iluminando e suplementando uma com a outra, acreditamos ser possível absorver e superar as leituras mais habituais do trabalho de Zé Celso Martinez Corrêa, as quais se restringem à adesão ou recusa totais, e por isso muito simplistas, de seu projeto poético-político.
Abstract
This essay aims at analyzing and comparing two works that may be considered models or manifests by Teatro Oficina: Bacantes (1996) and O banquete (2009). Interpreting them as a diptych, that is, as illuminating and supplementing each other, we believe it is possible to absorb and surpass the most usual readings of Zé Celso Martinez Corrêa’s work, which are limited to a total, and therefore too simplistic, adherence or refusal of his poetic-political project.
Cadernos de Letras da UFF, 2020
Resumo: Analisando o espetáculo teatral Depois dos últimos dias, criado pelo encenador suíço Chri... more Resumo: Analisando o espetáculo teatral Depois dos últimos dias, criado pelo encenador suíço Christoph Marthaler para a Trienal de Ruhr em 2019, almejamos apresentar uma possível abordagem do tempo cênico para além do presente dramático, da história como narrativa épica ou da memória individual: um tempo assombrado por fantasmas vindos do passado, mas também, talvez surpreendentemente, do presente e do futuro.
Palavras-chave: Teatro contemporâneo. Estética e política. Teatro e História.
Ghosts of a living future: memory and history in Christoph Marthaler’s After the last days
Abstract: Our analysis of After the last days, a theatre play created by Swiss director Christoph Marthaler for the Ruhr Triennale in 2019, aims to present a possible approach to scenic time beyond dramatic present, history as epic narrative or individual memory: a time haunted by ghosts coming from the past, but also, perhaps surprisingly, from the present and the future.
Keywords: Contemporary theatre. Aesthetics and politics. Theatre and History.
Dissonância: Revista de Teoria Crítica, 2020
Se a atualidade da Teoria Crítica é marcada pela avaliação do pensamento adorniano feita por Jürg... more Se a atualidade da Teoria Crítica é marcada pela avaliação do pensamento adorniano feita por Jürgen Habermas e em certa medida assimilada pelos demais pensadores da sua geração (como Albrecht Wellmer, Hans Robert Jauß e Peter Bürger), interessa-nos neste ensaio chamar a atenção para um certo "retorno a Adorno" que estaria em curso no presente. Para tanto, buscaremos apresentar brevemente quatro importantes filósofos alemães em atividade, os quais integrariam uma "terceira geração" frankfurtiana: Josef Früchtl, Martin Seel, Christoph Menke e Juliane Rebentisch. A obra desses quatro professores será abordada a partir de suas reinterpretações do conceito de experiência, e sobretudo de experiência estética, na filosofia adorniana.
Abstract: If Critical Theory’s present is marked by Jürgen Habermas's evaluation of Adornian thought – somewhat assimilated by other thinkers of his generation (such as Albrecht Wellmer, Hans Robert Jauß and Peter Bürger) – our main concern in this essay is drawing attention to a certain "return to Adorno" currently underway. To do so, we will briefly present four important German philosophers at work today, part of a "third generation" of the Frankfurt School: Josef Früchtl, Martin Seel, Christoph Menke, and Juliane Rebentisch. Their work will be approached starting from their reinterpretations of the concept of (especially aesthetic) experience, in Adornian philosophy.
Revista Sala Preta, 2019
Com Aos vivos, ciclo de três peças apresentado em três teatros paulistanos durante as eleições pr... more Com Aos vivos, ciclo de três peças apresentado em três teatros paulistanos durante as eleições presidenciais de 2018, Nuno Ramos buscou refletir sobre a urgente situação política do Brasil contemporâneo escalando atores para reproduzir em tempo real alguns dos principais debates entre os candidatos. A esse material se somavam outros escolhidos pelo artista: uma performer girando continuamente no centro do palco durante toda a primeira peça (Dervixe), trechos de Sófocles na segunda (Antígona) e de Glauber Rocha na parte final (Terra em transe). Nossa reflexão visa, por meio de leituras de teorias contemporâneas sobre o trágico e de apontamentos sobre o tempo presente, ler nessa obra a crônica de uma tragédia anunciada e um possível ponto de partida para se tentar repensar as tarefas e os sentidos da arte diante da grave crise que o país atravessa.
With Aos vivos (Live/For the living), a three-part cycle presented in three theaters in São Paulo during the presidential elections of 2018, Nuno Ramos sought to reflect on the urgent political situation of contemporary Brazil, by casting actors to reproduce in real time some of the main debates between candidates. To this material, others chosen by the artist were added: a performer continuously rotating in the center of the stage throughout the first play, Dervixe, excerpts of Sophocles in the second, Antígona (Antigone), and Glauber Rocha in the final part, Terra em transe (Entranced Earth). Our reflection aims to read the chronicle of an announced tragedy and a possible starting point for trying to rethink the tasks and the senses of art before the serious crisis that the country is undergoing.
Viso · Cadernos de estética aplicada , 2019
O ensaio busca descrever, analisar e interpretar Vergonha, obra teatral encenada pelo Coletivo Br... more O ensaio busca descrever, analisar e interpretar Vergonha, obra teatral encenada pelo Coletivo Bruto em Piracicaba em outubro de 2016. Com isso, visamos refletir sobre as potencialidades de expandir o teatro documentário para além de sua forma mais habitual, exibicionista, individualista e melodramática, devolvendo ao teatro sua força não de ser real, mas de enfrentar um Real além da mera realidade, para melhor pensar o seu tempo. | Narcisism and self-criticism in Coletivo Bruto’s Shame
(Antidocumentarytheatre 2): This essay intends to describe, analyse and interpret Shame, a theatrical work staged by Coletivo Bruto in October 2016 in Piracicaba (Brazil), in order to consider the possibilities of expanding documentary theatre beyond its most usual, exhibitionistic, individualistic and melodramatic form, returning to theatre its power not of being real, but of confronting a Real beyond mere reality, in order to better think its time.
O ensaio procura promover o encontro entre dois dos mais relevantes projetos filosoficos do tempo... more O ensaio procura promover o encontro entre dois dos mais relevantes projetos filosoficos do tempo presente: o do filosofo esloveno Slavoj Žižek, controverso pensador hegeliano-lacaniano marcado ao mesmo tempo pela densidade de suas obras sobre o idealismo alemao (a qual remeteremos aqui) e pelo carater pop de suas intervencoes sobre politica e cultura contemporâneas, e o do frances Jacques Ranciere, autor mais austero e nem por isso menos celebrado de diversas reflexoes sobre os cruzamentos entre estetica e politica, e que evita explicitar uma linhagem de pensamento. Acreditamos ser possivel, dessa forma, elencar alguns dos pontos centrais de uma continuacao e reconstrucao do pensamento critico dialetico no presente.
Rapsódia: almanaque de filosofia e arte, 2018
O ensaio busca reflexões sobre o trágico em algumas obras do filósofo alemão Christoph Menke, int... more O ensaio busca reflexões sobre o trágico em algumas obras do filósofo alemão Christoph Menke, integrante da chamada terceira geração da Teoria Crítica frankfurtiana, com o intuito de avaliar a relevância dessa categoria para um pensamento do teatro contemporâneo e para o enfrentamento dos impasses políticos do tempo presente por parte da atividade artística. Finalmente, os limites da filosofia de Menke são apontados a partir de uma problematização de seu escasso tratamento da comédia.
Tragedy and Comedy according to Christoph Menke: Critical Theory and Contemporary Aesthetics
Abstract: The essay seeks reflections on tragedy in some works by German philosopher Christoph Menke, member of the so-called third generation of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, in order to evaluate the relevance of this category for contemporary theater studies and for artistic activity's ability to cope with political impasses of the present. Finally, some limits of Menke's philosophy are pointed out starting from a problematization of his scarce treatment of comedy.
Revista Urdimento, 2018
A partir de uma análise da peça Sombra (Eurídice diz) [Schatten (Eurydike sagt)], 2011), o ensaio... more A partir de uma análise da peça Sombra (Eurídice diz) [Schatten (Eurydike sagt)], 2011), o ensaio busca apresentar a dramaturgia feminista da escritora austríaca Elfriede Jelinek, laureada com o Prêmio
Nobel de Literatura em 2004, mas ainda pouco conhecida no meio teatral brasileiro. Posicionando-se com um aparente pessimismo quanto à possibilidade real de uma superação da atual dominação masculina, a autora desenvolve uma política estética ao mesmo tempo idiossincrática e radical, um feminismo contraintuitivo que merece espaço nas discussões atuais sobre as possibilidades de uma cena não-falocêntrica.
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“I write, should anyone be interested”: Woman and the woman artist in Elfriede Jelinek’s “Shadow”
Starting from an analysis of the play Shadow (Eurydice says) [Schatten (Eurydike sagt)], 2011), the essay seeks to present the feminist playwriting of Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature, but still little known in Brazilian theater. Positioning herself with an apparent pessimism as to the real possibility of overcoming the current masculine domination, the author develops an aesthetic politics which is at the same time idiosyncratic and radical, a counterintuitive feminism that deserves space in the current discussions on the possibilities of a non-phallocentric scene.
Revista Viso, 2017
O ensaio pretende investigar o modo pelo qual classificações como “teatro documentário” ou “teatr... more O ensaio pretende investigar o modo pelo qual classificações como “teatro documentário” ou “teatros do real”, muito em voga nas recentes discussões teóricas sobre a cena contemporânea, são colocados em questão, desconstruídos e ampliados pelo espetáculo paulistano Conversas com meu pai, de 2014, parceria da atriz Janaína Leite com o dramaturgo Alexandre Dal Farra. Para tal, o autor se apoia em reflexões de Jacques Rancière, Georges Didi-Huberman e Hans-Thies Lehmann sobre os encontros e separações entre arte e realidade.
ANTIDOCUMENTARYTHEATRE: Truth and fiction in Janaína Leite and Alexandre Dal Farra’s Conversations with my father
ABSTRACT: The essay intents to investigate the way categorizations such as “documentary theatre” or “theatres of the real”, very fashionable in recent theoretical discussions about the contemporary stage, are put in question, deconstructed and enlarged by the 2014 play Conversations with my father, authored together by the actress Janaína Leite and the playwright Alexandre Dal Farra. To this end, the author relies on reflections by Jacques Rancière, Georges Didi-Huberman and Hans-Thies Lehmann about the crossings and partings between art and reality.
Sala Preta, 2017
Partindo de uma investigação conjunta do espetáculo Branco: o cheiro do lírio e do formol e das d... more Partindo de uma investigação conjunta do espetáculo Branco: o cheiro do lírio e do formol e das diversas críticas escritas sobre ele por ocasião de sua estreia e temporada paulistana, o ensaio busca refletir sobre o possível sentido político de um teatro contemporâneo entendido como pós-dramático, localizando-o num regime estético da arte (em oposição aos regimes representativo e ético, como propõe o filósofo Jacques Rancière).
Chronicle of a Failure Foretold: representation, ethics and aesthetics in the (meta)critique of white reason
ABSTRACT
Starting from an investigation of the play Branco: o cheiro do lírio e do formol and the many critiques written about it on the occasion of its premiere in São Paulo, this essay intends to meditate on the possible political sense of a contemporary theatre, understood as “postdramatic”, locating it in an aesthetic regime of art (in opposition to the representative and ethical regimes, as proposed by philosopher Jacques Rancière).
Paralaxe, 2016
Buscando colher na obra recente de Georges Didi-Huberman diversas recorrências da expressão " ape... more Buscando colher na obra recente de Georges Didi-Huberman diversas recorrências da expressão " apesar de tudo " (malgré tout), fórmula na qual o teórico parece insistir de modo consistente ainda que não sistemático, acreditamos ser possível localizar uma proposta de sua parte a respeito da relação possível – ou, poder-se-ia mesmo dizer, imperativa – entre estética, ética e política para o tempo presente.
Collecting from Georges Didi-Huberman's recent work many recurrences of the expression " in spite of all " (malgré tout), phrasing upon which this theorist seems to insist in a consistent (although not systemic) way, we believe it is possible to locate a proposal of his regarding the possible – or, we could even say, imperative – relation between aesthetics, ethics and politics for the present times.
In spite of all: Didi-Huberman, ethics and aesthetics
ABSTRACT
Collecting from Georges Didi-Huberman’s recent work many recurrences of the expression “in spite of all” (malgré tout), phrasing upon which this theorist seems to insist in a consistent (although not systemic) way, we believe it is possible to locate a proposal of his regarding the possible – or, we could even say, imperative – relation between aesthetics, ethics and politics for the present times.
Urdimento, 2016
A partir de cenas e imagens de algumas obras teatrais produzidas recentemente em São Paulo, Brasi... more A partir de cenas e imagens de algumas obras teatrais produzidas recentemente em São Paulo, Brasil, procuramos investigar a possibilidade e o sentido de se falar em alguma transgressão nesse teatro, opondo à ideia de um teatro “performativo” (baseado no gesto que visa a uma passagem do campo do estético para o da práxis) uma visão que pretendemos mais complexa: a de uma potência transgressora das imagens mesmas e do próprio estético.
Whether there is transgression in contemporary theatre in São Paulo: gestures and images
ABSTRACT
Starting from scenes and images from theatrical works recently produced in Sao Paulo, Brazil, we have tried to in-vestigate the possibility and meaning of speaking of some transgression in this theatre, opposing to the idea of a “per-formative” theatre (founded on the ges-ture intending to pass from the field of aesthetics to that of praxis) a vision we believe more complex: that of a trans-gressive power of images themselves and of aesthetics in itself.
Rapsódia, 2014
A partir de uma investigação do espetáculo The life and death of Marina Abramović, dirigido por B... more A partir de uma investigação do espetáculo The life and death of Marina Abramović, dirigido por Bob Wilson, questiona-se uma separação conceitual talvez precipitada de representação e performance, com o intuito de repensar certas classificações do teatro contemporâneo: o performativo, os “teatros do real” e, é claro, o pós-dramático. A dialética entre os artistas envolvidos na criação pode servir de chave para compreender tanto a obra quanto seu contexto. Em seguida a análise investiga as possibilidades de se narrar cenicamente uma vida, especificamente a vida de uma grande estrela do mundo da arte. Novamente localiza-se uma dialética entre os artistas envolvidos na criação, dessa vez focando no trabalho do ator Willem Dafoe e do cantor e diretor musical Antony.
Dissertação de mestrado by Artur Kon
O trabalho visa investigar certa produção teatral realizada em São Paulo desde 2009, ou seja, dep... more O trabalho visa investigar certa produção teatral realizada em São Paulo desde 2009, ou seja, depois do que foi visto como um esgotamento do ciclo de politização da cena paulistana começado com o Movimento Arte Contra a Barbárie na década de 90. Ao mesmo tempo continuando e criticando certo teatro político de moldes brechtianos, as peças aqui analisadas se caracterizam pela autorreflexão cênica, pelo questionamento do teatro dramático e textocêntrico e pelo confronto com o fracasso das vanguardas políticas e artísticas. Na tentativa de compreensão crítica da relação entre estética e política nesse recorte do atual teatro paulistano, busca-se aqui promover o embate entre essas obras e as formulações teóricas de Jacques Rancière, Theodor Adorno, Hans-Thies Lehmann e outros pensadores que localizam e discutem um sentido político da arte para além do engajamento.
On theatrocracy: the aesthetics and politics of contemporary theatre in São Paulo
ABSTRACT
This work attempts to investigate a certain theatrical body of works created in São Paulo since 2009, that is, after what was seen as an exhaustion of the cycle of politicization of the stage that began with "Movimento Arte contra a Barbárie" (Art against Barbarism Movement) in the nineties. Establishing simultaneously a continuation and a critique of a certain political theatre of Brechtian influence, the works here analysed are characterized by their scenic self-reflection, by the questioning of dramatic and text-centered theatre, and by the confrontation with the political and artistic avant-gardes' failure. In the endeavour to comprehend critically the relationship between aesthetics and politics in this frame of contemporary plays, we try to promote the debate between these works and theoretical formulations by Jacques Rancière, Theodor Adorno, Hans-Thies Lehmann and other thinkers who localize and discuss a political sense in art beyond engagement.
Tese de doutorado by Artur Kon
Tese de doutorado no Departamento de Filosofia da FFLCH-USP, 2021
Tese defendida em 2021, investigando a produção dramatúrgica da escritora austríaca Elfriede Jeli... more Tese defendida em 2021, investigando a produção dramatúrgica da escritora austríaca Elfriede Jelinek. Citadas por Hans-Thies Lehmann entre as referências para a elaboração da sua muito debatida teoria de um “teatro pós-dramático”, as peças dessa autora propiciam de modo particularmente produtivo a discussão sobre o sentido possível de se produzir dramaturgia hoje, isso é, num tempo em que a atividade teatral parece ter se tornado autônoma, prescindindo da existência prévia de um texto a ser montado (como ainda era regra até meados do século XX). Refletindo formalmente sobre problemáticas atuais como a posição das mulheres na sociedade e na criação artística, a crise dos refugiados e a xenofobia crescente na Europa, as transformações contemporâneas do capitalismo e a impotência do próprio trabalho teatral diante desse quadro, Jelinek expande os limites daquilo que se compreende como um texto dramático: mais do que diálogos tradicionais, a autora cria superfícies de linguagem a serem exploradas pelos encenadores e atores, cuja autonomia de criação ela reconhece e, mais ainda, provoca ativamente. Vendo essas novas abordagens formais como necessárias para a representação dos conteúdos tratados, propomo-nos a um estudo na linha dialética de Adorno, Szondi, Christoph Menke e do já mencionado Lehmann, de modo a lançar alguma luz sobre recentes desenvolvimentos históricos do texto teatral.
Elfriede Jelinek: from impotent texto to impossible theatre
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Papers by Artur Kon
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Addressing the set of so-called "spoken plays" or "speech plays" (Sprechstücke), the first four works written for the theater in the 1960s by Peter Handke, 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature, the essay seeks to locate in them more than the alienated self-referential game condemned by many in a supposed postmodernism. Relating the author's project with a properly Austrian modernist tradition and with the concerns of a possible political philosophy of language, we investigate his playwriting as a critical operation in relation to the coercive function of language, in order to finally relate this interest to its position in theater history, proposing its key role in understanding the contemporary scene.
Abstract
This essay aims at analyzing and comparing two works that may be considered models or manifests by Teatro Oficina: Bacantes (1996) and O banquete (2009). Interpreting them as a diptych, that is, as illuminating and supplementing each other, we believe it is possible to absorb and surpass the most usual readings of Zé Celso Martinez Corrêa’s work, which are limited to a total, and therefore too simplistic, adherence or refusal of his poetic-political project.
Palavras-chave: Teatro contemporâneo. Estética e política. Teatro e História.
Ghosts of a living future: memory and history in Christoph Marthaler’s After the last days
Abstract: Our analysis of After the last days, a theatre play created by Swiss director Christoph Marthaler for the Ruhr Triennale in 2019, aims to present a possible approach to scenic time beyond dramatic present, history as epic narrative or individual memory: a time haunted by ghosts coming from the past, but also, perhaps surprisingly, from the present and the future.
Keywords: Contemporary theatre. Aesthetics and politics. Theatre and History.
Abstract: If Critical Theory’s present is marked by Jürgen Habermas's evaluation of Adornian thought – somewhat assimilated by other thinkers of his generation (such as Albrecht Wellmer, Hans Robert Jauß and Peter Bürger) – our main concern in this essay is drawing attention to a certain "return to Adorno" currently underway. To do so, we will briefly present four important German philosophers at work today, part of a "third generation" of the Frankfurt School: Josef Früchtl, Martin Seel, Christoph Menke, and Juliane Rebentisch. Their work will be approached starting from their reinterpretations of the concept of (especially aesthetic) experience, in Adornian philosophy.
With Aos vivos (Live/For the living), a three-part cycle presented in three theaters in São Paulo during the presidential elections of 2018, Nuno Ramos sought to reflect on the urgent political situation of contemporary Brazil, by casting actors to reproduce in real time some of the main debates between candidates. To this material, others chosen by the artist were added: a performer continuously rotating in the center of the stage throughout the first play, Dervixe, excerpts of Sophocles in the second, Antígona (Antigone), and Glauber Rocha in the final part, Terra em transe (Entranced Earth). Our reflection aims to read the chronicle of an announced tragedy and a possible starting point for trying to rethink the tasks and the senses of art before the serious crisis that the country is undergoing.
(Antidocumentarytheatre 2): This essay intends to describe, analyse and interpret Shame, a theatrical work staged by Coletivo Bruto in October 2016 in Piracicaba (Brazil), in order to consider the possibilities of expanding documentary theatre beyond its most usual, exhibitionistic, individualistic and melodramatic form, returning to theatre its power not of being real, but of confronting a Real beyond mere reality, in order to better think its time.
Tragedy and Comedy according to Christoph Menke: Critical Theory and Contemporary Aesthetics
Abstract: The essay seeks reflections on tragedy in some works by German philosopher Christoph Menke, member of the so-called third generation of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, in order to evaluate the relevance of this category for contemporary theater studies and for artistic activity's ability to cope with political impasses of the present. Finally, some limits of Menke's philosophy are pointed out starting from a problematization of his scarce treatment of comedy.
Nobel de Literatura em 2004, mas ainda pouco conhecida no meio teatral brasileiro. Posicionando-se com um aparente pessimismo quanto à possibilidade real de uma superação da atual dominação masculina, a autora desenvolve uma política estética ao mesmo tempo idiossincrática e radical, um feminismo contraintuitivo que merece espaço nas discussões atuais sobre as possibilidades de uma cena não-falocêntrica.
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“I write, should anyone be interested”: Woman and the woman artist in Elfriede Jelinek’s “Shadow”
Starting from an analysis of the play Shadow (Eurydice says) [Schatten (Eurydike sagt)], 2011), the essay seeks to present the feminist playwriting of Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature, but still little known in Brazilian theater. Positioning herself with an apparent pessimism as to the real possibility of overcoming the current masculine domination, the author develops an aesthetic politics which is at the same time idiosyncratic and radical, a counterintuitive feminism that deserves space in the current discussions on the possibilities of a non-phallocentric scene.
ANTIDOCUMENTARYTHEATRE: Truth and fiction in Janaína Leite and Alexandre Dal Farra’s Conversations with my father
ABSTRACT: The essay intents to investigate the way categorizations such as “documentary theatre” or “theatres of the real”, very fashionable in recent theoretical discussions about the contemporary stage, are put in question, deconstructed and enlarged by the 2014 play Conversations with my father, authored together by the actress Janaína Leite and the playwright Alexandre Dal Farra. To this end, the author relies on reflections by Jacques Rancière, Georges Didi-Huberman and Hans-Thies Lehmann about the crossings and partings between art and reality.
Chronicle of a Failure Foretold: representation, ethics and aesthetics in the (meta)critique of white reason
ABSTRACT
Starting from an investigation of the play Branco: o cheiro do lírio e do formol and the many critiques written about it on the occasion of its premiere in São Paulo, this essay intends to meditate on the possible political sense of a contemporary theatre, understood as “postdramatic”, locating it in an aesthetic regime of art (in opposition to the representative and ethical regimes, as proposed by philosopher Jacques Rancière).
Collecting from Georges Didi-Huberman's recent work many recurrences of the expression " in spite of all " (malgré tout), phrasing upon which this theorist seems to insist in a consistent (although not systemic) way, we believe it is possible to locate a proposal of his regarding the possible – or, we could even say, imperative – relation between aesthetics, ethics and politics for the present times.
In spite of all: Didi-Huberman, ethics and aesthetics
ABSTRACT
Collecting from Georges Didi-Huberman’s recent work many recurrences of the expression “in spite of all” (malgré tout), phrasing upon which this theorist seems to insist in a consistent (although not systemic) way, we believe it is possible to locate a proposal of his regarding the possible – or, we could even say, imperative – relation between aesthetics, ethics and politics for the present times.
Whether there is transgression in contemporary theatre in São Paulo: gestures and images
ABSTRACT
Starting from scenes and images from theatrical works recently produced in Sao Paulo, Brazil, we have tried to in-vestigate the possibility and meaning of speaking of some transgression in this theatre, opposing to the idea of a “per-formative” theatre (founded on the ges-ture intending to pass from the field of aesthetics to that of praxis) a vision we believe more complex: that of a trans-gressive power of images themselves and of aesthetics in itself.
Dissertação de mestrado by Artur Kon
On theatrocracy: the aesthetics and politics of contemporary theatre in São Paulo
ABSTRACT
This work attempts to investigate a certain theatrical body of works created in São Paulo since 2009, that is, after what was seen as an exhaustion of the cycle of politicization of the stage that began with "Movimento Arte contra a Barbárie" (Art against Barbarism Movement) in the nineties. Establishing simultaneously a continuation and a critique of a certain political theatre of Brechtian influence, the works here analysed are characterized by their scenic self-reflection, by the questioning of dramatic and text-centered theatre, and by the confrontation with the political and artistic avant-gardes' failure. In the endeavour to comprehend critically the relationship between aesthetics and politics in this frame of contemporary plays, we try to promote the debate between these works and theoretical formulations by Jacques Rancière, Theodor Adorno, Hans-Thies Lehmann and other thinkers who localize and discuss a political sense in art beyond engagement.
Tese de doutorado by Artur Kon
Elfriede Jelinek: from impotent texto to impossible theatre
(Doctoral thesis)
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Addressing the set of so-called "spoken plays" or "speech plays" (Sprechstücke), the first four works written for the theater in the 1960s by Peter Handke, 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature, the essay seeks to locate in them more than the alienated self-referential game condemned by many in a supposed postmodernism. Relating the author's project with a properly Austrian modernist tradition and with the concerns of a possible political philosophy of language, we investigate his playwriting as a critical operation in relation to the coercive function of language, in order to finally relate this interest to its position in theater history, proposing its key role in understanding the contemporary scene.
Abstract
This essay aims at analyzing and comparing two works that may be considered models or manifests by Teatro Oficina: Bacantes (1996) and O banquete (2009). Interpreting them as a diptych, that is, as illuminating and supplementing each other, we believe it is possible to absorb and surpass the most usual readings of Zé Celso Martinez Corrêa’s work, which are limited to a total, and therefore too simplistic, adherence or refusal of his poetic-political project.
Palavras-chave: Teatro contemporâneo. Estética e política. Teatro e História.
Ghosts of a living future: memory and history in Christoph Marthaler’s After the last days
Abstract: Our analysis of After the last days, a theatre play created by Swiss director Christoph Marthaler for the Ruhr Triennale in 2019, aims to present a possible approach to scenic time beyond dramatic present, history as epic narrative or individual memory: a time haunted by ghosts coming from the past, but also, perhaps surprisingly, from the present and the future.
Keywords: Contemporary theatre. Aesthetics and politics. Theatre and History.
Abstract: If Critical Theory’s present is marked by Jürgen Habermas's evaluation of Adornian thought – somewhat assimilated by other thinkers of his generation (such as Albrecht Wellmer, Hans Robert Jauß and Peter Bürger) – our main concern in this essay is drawing attention to a certain "return to Adorno" currently underway. To do so, we will briefly present four important German philosophers at work today, part of a "third generation" of the Frankfurt School: Josef Früchtl, Martin Seel, Christoph Menke, and Juliane Rebentisch. Their work will be approached starting from their reinterpretations of the concept of (especially aesthetic) experience, in Adornian philosophy.
With Aos vivos (Live/For the living), a three-part cycle presented in three theaters in São Paulo during the presidential elections of 2018, Nuno Ramos sought to reflect on the urgent political situation of contemporary Brazil, by casting actors to reproduce in real time some of the main debates between candidates. To this material, others chosen by the artist were added: a performer continuously rotating in the center of the stage throughout the first play, Dervixe, excerpts of Sophocles in the second, Antígona (Antigone), and Glauber Rocha in the final part, Terra em transe (Entranced Earth). Our reflection aims to read the chronicle of an announced tragedy and a possible starting point for trying to rethink the tasks and the senses of art before the serious crisis that the country is undergoing.
(Antidocumentarytheatre 2): This essay intends to describe, analyse and interpret Shame, a theatrical work staged by Coletivo Bruto in October 2016 in Piracicaba (Brazil), in order to consider the possibilities of expanding documentary theatre beyond its most usual, exhibitionistic, individualistic and melodramatic form, returning to theatre its power not of being real, but of confronting a Real beyond mere reality, in order to better think its time.
Tragedy and Comedy according to Christoph Menke: Critical Theory and Contemporary Aesthetics
Abstract: The essay seeks reflections on tragedy in some works by German philosopher Christoph Menke, member of the so-called third generation of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, in order to evaluate the relevance of this category for contemporary theater studies and for artistic activity's ability to cope with political impasses of the present. Finally, some limits of Menke's philosophy are pointed out starting from a problematization of his scarce treatment of comedy.
Nobel de Literatura em 2004, mas ainda pouco conhecida no meio teatral brasileiro. Posicionando-se com um aparente pessimismo quanto à possibilidade real de uma superação da atual dominação masculina, a autora desenvolve uma política estética ao mesmo tempo idiossincrática e radical, um feminismo contraintuitivo que merece espaço nas discussões atuais sobre as possibilidades de uma cena não-falocêntrica.
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“I write, should anyone be interested”: Woman and the woman artist in Elfriede Jelinek’s “Shadow”
Starting from an analysis of the play Shadow (Eurydice says) [Schatten (Eurydike sagt)], 2011), the essay seeks to present the feminist playwriting of Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature, but still little known in Brazilian theater. Positioning herself with an apparent pessimism as to the real possibility of overcoming the current masculine domination, the author develops an aesthetic politics which is at the same time idiosyncratic and radical, a counterintuitive feminism that deserves space in the current discussions on the possibilities of a non-phallocentric scene.
ANTIDOCUMENTARYTHEATRE: Truth and fiction in Janaína Leite and Alexandre Dal Farra’s Conversations with my father
ABSTRACT: The essay intents to investigate the way categorizations such as “documentary theatre” or “theatres of the real”, very fashionable in recent theoretical discussions about the contemporary stage, are put in question, deconstructed and enlarged by the 2014 play Conversations with my father, authored together by the actress Janaína Leite and the playwright Alexandre Dal Farra. To this end, the author relies on reflections by Jacques Rancière, Georges Didi-Huberman and Hans-Thies Lehmann about the crossings and partings between art and reality.
Chronicle of a Failure Foretold: representation, ethics and aesthetics in the (meta)critique of white reason
ABSTRACT
Starting from an investigation of the play Branco: o cheiro do lírio e do formol and the many critiques written about it on the occasion of its premiere in São Paulo, this essay intends to meditate on the possible political sense of a contemporary theatre, understood as “postdramatic”, locating it in an aesthetic regime of art (in opposition to the representative and ethical regimes, as proposed by philosopher Jacques Rancière).
Collecting from Georges Didi-Huberman's recent work many recurrences of the expression " in spite of all " (malgré tout), phrasing upon which this theorist seems to insist in a consistent (although not systemic) way, we believe it is possible to locate a proposal of his regarding the possible – or, we could even say, imperative – relation between aesthetics, ethics and politics for the present times.
In spite of all: Didi-Huberman, ethics and aesthetics
ABSTRACT
Collecting from Georges Didi-Huberman’s recent work many recurrences of the expression “in spite of all” (malgré tout), phrasing upon which this theorist seems to insist in a consistent (although not systemic) way, we believe it is possible to locate a proposal of his regarding the possible – or, we could even say, imperative – relation between aesthetics, ethics and politics for the present times.
Whether there is transgression in contemporary theatre in São Paulo: gestures and images
ABSTRACT
Starting from scenes and images from theatrical works recently produced in Sao Paulo, Brazil, we have tried to in-vestigate the possibility and meaning of speaking of some transgression in this theatre, opposing to the idea of a “per-formative” theatre (founded on the ges-ture intending to pass from the field of aesthetics to that of praxis) a vision we believe more complex: that of a trans-gressive power of images themselves and of aesthetics in itself.
On theatrocracy: the aesthetics and politics of contemporary theatre in São Paulo
ABSTRACT
This work attempts to investigate a certain theatrical body of works created in São Paulo since 2009, that is, after what was seen as an exhaustion of the cycle of politicization of the stage that began with "Movimento Arte contra a Barbárie" (Art against Barbarism Movement) in the nineties. Establishing simultaneously a continuation and a critique of a certain political theatre of Brechtian influence, the works here analysed are characterized by their scenic self-reflection, by the questioning of dramatic and text-centered theatre, and by the confrontation with the political and artistic avant-gardes' failure. In the endeavour to comprehend critically the relationship between aesthetics and politics in this frame of contemporary plays, we try to promote the debate between these works and theoretical formulations by Jacques Rancière, Theodor Adorno, Hans-Thies Lehmann and other thinkers who localize and discuss a political sense in art beyond engagement.
Elfriede Jelinek: from impotent texto to impossible theatre
(Doctoral thesis)
"Feel free to fuck with me": first notes on Elfriede Jelinek's playwriting.
This talk intents to point out possibilities for the relationship between text and stage in contemporary times based on the production of Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel Prize for Literature and one of the most important theatrical authors working today, though still very little known in Brazil. To this end, we count on practical experience staging her plays for the first time in our country (Sportsplay, Cia de Teatro Acidental, premiere October / 2015; Princess Dramas, ciadasatrizes, premiere September / 2016) and the partial results of our PhD research, which began this year. Cited by Hans-Thies Lehmann among the references for the elaboration of his theory of “postdramatic theater”, this author's plays propitiate in a particularly productive way a discussion about the possible meaning of producing theatre texts today, that is, in a time in which theatrical activity seems to have become autonomous, dispensing with the previous existence of a text to be staged. Reflecting on current issues such as the position of women in still patriarchal society, the role of major media in shaping our images of the world, the contemporary transformations of capitalism and the powerlessness of the theater itself in view of this, Jelinek expands the limits of what is understood as a dramatic text: more than traditional dialogues, the author creates language surfaces to be explored by stage directors and actors, whose autonomy of creation she recognizes and, even more, actively provokes.
The tragic and farcical or comic seem to be swarming in politics in the twenty-first century, linked mainly to the idea of an end-time: end of history, of ideologies, of the project of modernity, of the belief in the possibility of a radically different world. A time with no exit would oblige us to a serious task of disillusionment, sobriety and conformation (be it to better accept the world as it is given, in neoliberal ideology, or to look for really existing possibilities of change, without unreasonable pretensions). Comedy and tragedy would merely be two ways of seeing this task, deciding between the melancholic mourning of lost illusions or the joy of a new time of truth. This reference to two fundamental categories of theatrical aesthetics may seem a mere case of abuse by common sense, not worthy of further investigation. We will seek here to call upon the thought of the philosopher Alenka Zupančič to refute this idea, showing how the deepening of aesthetic thinking says much about the discourse of capitalism today, as well as about the possibility that aesthetic experience presents a force which can be inductive of high voltage ethical and political subjective positions.