Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Coelho, Rui Pina
Data de Publicação: 2023
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/62449
Resumo: One can easily argue that since Marx and Engels demise of nineteenth century Utopian socialism, characterizing Utopianism as an “idealism deeply and structurally averse to the Political” (Jameson, 2005), utopia has migrated into fiction. With no surprise, Alain Badiou has famously declared the “passion for the real” as the twentieth century’s “major subjective trait”. The (early) twenty first century has also succumbed helplessly to the eruption of the real. But the times we live today seem to be claiming for something else. Over the past two decades utopian thinking seems to have resurfaced. The severity and monumentality of the issues that afflict the world today are inciting a central question for artists: in the face of an imminent catastrophe, what is the use of utopian imagination at the end of times? What is the purpose of artistic endeavours in a finite world. Utopian (or dystopian) fiction and has always dealt with the envisioning of a future anchored in possible or impossible scenarios, helping the world to correct its wrong doings, to improve, to transform, to threat with dreadful outcomes or to denounce present inequalities. However, if we consider that the world needs to start a new narrative, performing arts can help us to expand imagination, freeing political thinking from the constraints of the real world and wide open to “social dreaming”. In this paper, I aim to combine a speculative reflection grounded on utopian studies and in political theatre considering that performing arts are in a particularly good position to intervene in “social imaginary. This frame incites us to rethink the possibilities of political theatre today and its ontology, fighting for the rooting of (artistic) utopia in the imagination of politics, trusting that art and theatre will be able to help us to invent scenarios that today seem impossible or that we have not yet managed to conceive.
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spelling Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performanceNotas para o enraizamento da Utopia na imaginação da política através da performanceVisions of utopiaResistancePolitical theatreArtistic imaginationEnd timesVisões de utopiaResistênciaTeatro políticoImaginação ArtísticaFim dos TemposOne can easily argue that since Marx and Engels demise of nineteenth century Utopian socialism, characterizing Utopianism as an “idealism deeply and structurally averse to the Political” (Jameson, 2005), utopia has migrated into fiction. With no surprise, Alain Badiou has famously declared the “passion for the real” as the twentieth century’s “major subjective trait”. The (early) twenty first century has also succumbed helplessly to the eruption of the real. But the times we live today seem to be claiming for something else. Over the past two decades utopian thinking seems to have resurfaced. The severity and monumentality of the issues that afflict the world today are inciting a central question for artists: in the face of an imminent catastrophe, what is the use of utopian imagination at the end of times? What is the purpose of artistic endeavours in a finite world. Utopian (or dystopian) fiction and has always dealt with the envisioning of a future anchored in possible or impossible scenarios, helping the world to correct its wrong doings, to improve, to transform, to threat with dreadful outcomes or to denounce present inequalities. However, if we consider that the world needs to start a new narrative, performing arts can help us to expand imagination, freeing political thinking from the constraints of the real world and wide open to “social dreaming”. In this paper, I aim to combine a speculative reflection grounded on utopian studies and in political theatre considering that performing arts are in a particularly good position to intervene in “social imaginary. This frame incites us to rethink the possibilities of political theatre today and its ontology, fighting for the rooting of (artistic) utopia in the imagination of politics, trusting that art and theatre will be able to help us to invent scenarios that today seem impossible or that we have not yet managed to conceive.Pode-se facilmente argumentar que desde o desmerecimento do socialismo utópico do século XIX por Marx e Engels, caracterizando o utopismo como um “idealismo profunda e estruturalmente avesso ao político”, a utopia migrou para a ficção. Sem surpresa, Alain Badiou declarou a famosa “paixão pelo real” como o “principal traço subjetivo” do século XX. O (início) do século XXI também sucumbiu impotentemente à erupção do real. Mas os tempos que vivemos hoje parecem exigir outra coisa. Nas últimas duas décadas, o pensamento utópico parece ter ressurgido. A gravidade e a monumentalidade das questões que afligem o mundo hoje suscitam uma questão central para os artistas: face a uma catástrofe iminente, para que serve a imaginação utópica no fim dos tempos? Qual é o propósito dos empreendimentos artísticos em um mundo finito. A ficção utópica (ou distópica) lidou sempre com visões de um futuro ancorado em cenários possíveis ou impossíveis, ajudando o mundo a corrigir os seus erros, a melhorar, a transformar, a ameaçar com resultados terríveis ou a denunciar as desigualdades actuais. No entanto, se considerarmos que o mundo precisa de iniciar uma nova narrativa, as artes performativas podem ajudar-nos a expandir a imaginação, libertando o pensamento político dos constrangimentos do mundo real e abrindo-nos ao “sonho social”. Neste texto, pretendo combinar uma reflexão especulativa baseada em estudos utópicos e no teatro político, considerando que as artes performativas estão numa posição particularmente boa para intervir no “imaginário social”. Este enquadramento incita-nos a repensar as possibilidades do teatro político hoje e a sua ontologia, lutando pelo enraizamento da utopia (artística) no imaginário da política, confiando que a arte e o teatro poderão ajudar-nos a inventar cenários que hoje parecem impossíveis ou que ainda não conseguimos conceber.Associação Brasileira de Literatura ComparadaRepositório da Universidade de LisboaCoelho, Rui Pina2024-02-05T15:01:59Z2023-12-112023-12-11T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/62449engCOELHO, Rui Pina. Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the Imagination of Politics through performance. Revista Brasileira de Literatura Comparada, v. 25, n. 50, p. 137-143, set./dez., 2023. doi: https:// doi.org/10.1590/2596- 304x20232550rpc0103-6963https://doi.org/10.1590/2596-304x20232550rpc2596-304Xinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-02-12T01:19:12Zoai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/62449Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T02:37:50.144439Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance
Notas para o enraizamento da Utopia na imaginação da política através da performance
title Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance
spellingShingle Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance
Coelho, Rui Pina
Visions of utopia
Resistance
Political theatre
Artistic imagination
End times
Visões de utopia
Resistência
Teatro político
Imaginação Artística
Fim dos Tempos
title_short Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance
title_full Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance
title_fullStr Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance
title_full_unstemmed Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance
title_sort Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the imagination of politics through performance
author Coelho, Rui Pina
author_facet Coelho, Rui Pina
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Coelho, Rui Pina
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Visions of utopia
Resistance
Political theatre
Artistic imagination
End times
Visões de utopia
Resistência
Teatro político
Imaginação Artística
Fim dos Tempos
topic Visions of utopia
Resistance
Political theatre
Artistic imagination
End times
Visões de utopia
Resistência
Teatro político
Imaginação Artística
Fim dos Tempos
description One can easily argue that since Marx and Engels demise of nineteenth century Utopian socialism, characterizing Utopianism as an “idealism deeply and structurally averse to the Political” (Jameson, 2005), utopia has migrated into fiction. With no surprise, Alain Badiou has famously declared the “passion for the real” as the twentieth century’s “major subjective trait”. The (early) twenty first century has also succumbed helplessly to the eruption of the real. But the times we live today seem to be claiming for something else. Over the past two decades utopian thinking seems to have resurfaced. The severity and monumentality of the issues that afflict the world today are inciting a central question for artists: in the face of an imminent catastrophe, what is the use of utopian imagination at the end of times? What is the purpose of artistic endeavours in a finite world. Utopian (or dystopian) fiction and has always dealt with the envisioning of a future anchored in possible or impossible scenarios, helping the world to correct its wrong doings, to improve, to transform, to threat with dreadful outcomes or to denounce present inequalities. However, if we consider that the world needs to start a new narrative, performing arts can help us to expand imagination, freeing political thinking from the constraints of the real world and wide open to “social dreaming”. In this paper, I aim to combine a speculative reflection grounded on utopian studies and in political theatre considering that performing arts are in a particularly good position to intervene in “social imaginary. This frame incites us to rethink the possibilities of political theatre today and its ontology, fighting for the rooting of (artistic) utopia in the imagination of politics, trusting that art and theatre will be able to help us to invent scenarios that today seem impossible or that we have not yet managed to conceive.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023-12-11
2023-12-11T00:00:00Z
2024-02-05T15:01:59Z
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dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10451/62449
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dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv COELHO, Rui Pina. Notes towards the rooting of Utopia in the Imagination of Politics through performance. Revista Brasileira de Literatura Comparada, v. 25, n. 50, p. 137-143, set./dez., 2023. doi: https:// doi.org/10.1590/2596- 304x20232550rpc
0103-6963
https://doi.org/10.1590/2596-304x20232550rpc
2596-304X
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Associação Brasileira de Literatura Comparada
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Associação Brasileira de Literatura Comparada
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