Beyond Observation: Artistic Reflections on a Research Trip to Brazil (English)

In late fall 2023, researchers Luise Willer and Lena Pozdnyakova from the subproject »Shared Protocols: Assembly in Contemporary Art« at the CRC 1512 Intervening Arts undertook a joint research trip to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to deepen their understanding of assembly, participation and dissent through the influential theories of Augusto Boal and Paulo Freire. The trip focused on Boal's performative resistance, prefigurative practices and theater as a tool for solidarity, tracing their impact on participatory art, social practice and collaborative processes.

The research explored key sites of Boal's activity, including São Paulo's Arena Theater, where he began his career and served as artistic director until 1971. Given Boal's close ties to Freire – whose Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968) shaped Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed (1974) – the project also examined Freire's work in São Paulo archives. Additionally, the researchers investigated Boal's activist theater methods – including Legislative Theatre, Image Theatre, Invisible Theatre and Forum Theatre – attending a session in São Paulo to analyze their influence on contemporary participatory practices in political and cultural spheres.

During the trip, Luise and Lena met with scholars such as Samon Noyama and Gustavo Hessmann Dalagua, as well as Julian Boal, co-founder of Escola de Teatro Popular. They also engaged with artists and scholars who employ Boal's and Freire's methods. In São Paulo, they also explored contemporary performative resistance at the São Paulo Biennale. Their itinerary included meetings with the collective Grupo Contrafilé and investigations into projects such as The Living And The Dead Ensemble and Frente 3 de Fevereiro.

Each of them documented specific aspects of the trip, contributing to a shared database that is now being analyzed to deepen the project's engagement with participatory methods and political assembly in contemporary art. Upon their return to Berlin, they engaged in a creative debrief, which led to several artistic outputs, such as Lena Pozdnyakova's artistic documentation – an art installation which mapped connections between figures and collectives established during the research period in Brazil.

Additionally, Lena Pozdnyakova's text »There, There: body«, written over the course of the trip, was published in the School of Commons journal ISSUES – an annual online publication at ZhDK in Zurich – where broader connections between the trip and artistic research practice were explored in written form. Through the lens of the author's journey and positionality, the narrative weaves together personal experiences with broader cultural, political and emotional reflections, exploring the interconnectedness of body, mind and memory against the backdrop of historical and political contrasts.

Text and materials by Lena Pozdnyakova

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