[collage and
bricolage]
The following excerpts were taken from chapter four ["'Cagar é uma
Licença Poética': The Anti-Aesthetic Aesthete and 'Turd World' Poetics
in Glauco Mattoso"] of Butterman's thesis [1], focusing on: (a) JORNAL
DOBRABIL; (b) "ManifestIVo VanguarDADA" or "IV Manifesto da Vanguarda;"
and (c) "Para-Concrete" and Visual Poetry.
ORIGINAL FRONT COVER (1981) and RE-EDITION BY ILUMINURAS (2001)
(a) JORNAL DOBRABIL
One of Mattoso's most controversial and important works is the JORNAL
DOBRABIL, whose title and typography are intended to imitate the JORNAL
DO BRASIL. This volume contains all of the individual one-page (back and
front) sheets that he produced from 1977-81. In both appearance and
form, these pages resemble the "suplemento literário" of a Brazilian
newspaper. Mattoso produced one hundred copies of each individual
"jornal" and five hundred copies were printed of the volume of compiled
"jornais". Mattoso's method of dissemination was, as to be expected,
quite unconventional: The newspaper sought its readers and subscribed
itself to THEM. Mattoso routinely selected his readers and then mailed
them his work. Before undergoing a sampling of its contents, especially
the manifestos within, it is necessary to pause and examine the pun
contained in the title. Playing on the consecrated JORNAL DO BRASIL, the
newspaper might be called, in rough English translation, "The Foldable
Newspaper." [2] The work, among other things, offers a parody of
printing presses, a satire of poetry, a mixture of visual vanguard
poetry with bathroom graffiti; and, especially, an abundance of
"typewriter art." On closer inspection, it becomes obvious that the
majority of Mattoso's poems are constructed meticulously with the sole
recourse to the typed letter "o." Thematically, the Jornal Dobrábil
consists of an eclectic combination of aesthetic concepts, references to
rock'n'roll, erudite allusions to great Western philosophers and a high
incidence of "palavrões" and slang representative of the underground
counter-culture of the beatnik generation of the 60s.
This chaotic collage of apparently contradictory influences is mirrored
by yet another, more basic contradiction: the very typeset in which
expression occurs. Surely, the most common perception of a typewriter is
that it is an instrument utilized to achieve a pragmatic goal. Mattoso
aestheticizes the typewriter such that its practical purpose is demoted
to secondary importance while its most significant capacity is to
produce art. Confirming the contradictory nature of Mattoso's
dactylographic enterprise, Eduardo Kac characterizes "Dactyloart" as one
of various art forms that is "uma ação ao mesmo tempo planejada e
anárquica" (Míccolis 88). The appearance of the contents of the JORNAL
DOBRABIL is that of random images, appropriated maxims, word games,
poems, editorials, letters – the impression clearly one of
anti-structure, of collage. In fact, Mattoso openly declares in one of
his spontaneous mini-manifestos, "Chega de literatura de estrutura"
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 21). Closer inspection reveals, however, an obsessive
preoccupation with categorization and order. For example, one of the
"supplementos inseparaBeis do jornal dobraBil," the "Jornal Dadarte"
(parodying the JORNAL DA TARDE, a daily newspaper, and punning on "arte
dada", that is, "gratuita" or "dadaísta") consistently includes only
aesthetic considerations and examples of avant-garde writing techniques,
while the "Galeria Alegria" and the "Gazela Esportiva" (parodying the
GAZETA ESPORTIVA, a sports newspaper, and playing on a feminine word for
"veado") are reserved for subject matter and artistic compositions that
pertain to gay activism and homoeroticism. Further evidence of superior
organization comes in the form of the Index of Names at the end of the
compilation, a carefully composed organizational tool, listing
references to authors included, regardless of whether they have
contributed as producers of entire poems or excerpted or even utilized
for fragments of less than a sentence.
The JORNAL DOBRABIL provides excellent insight into Mattoso's literary
strategy in constructing poetic subjectivities that approximate, in
theory, Pessoan heteronymity, with a purpose that is entirely ludic and
satirical in nature. [3] The alleged authors who have contributed to the
JORNAL DOBRABIL include, among others, Pedro o Podre, Garcia Loca,
Massashi Sugawara, Marx Zwei, Heinz Zweig, Pederavski, Puttisgrilli,
Bixênia, P. David, Al Cunha, and Cuelho Netto. But it is important to
note that, in a performance that can be called a playful schizophrenia,
nineteen of its authors are heteronyms who derive their identities – or
sub-identities – from the pseudonym (perhaps orthonym?) "Glauco
Mattoso," ranging from Garcia Loca, to whom Mattoso attributes an
effeminate quality, including the role of "drag queen" to Massashi
Sugawara ("Massage Sucktherod"), whose quiet and serious albeit
stereotypical Japanese mannerisms reflect a more introverted character,
as well as the persona of a gay Asian man who is too inhibited to openly
declare his sexual orientation, to Pedro o Podre (Peter the Rotten), who
Mattoso acknowledges to be the "Mr. Hyde" hiding under the civilized
personality of "Dr. Jekyll." Pedro o Podre is a crucial heteronym, for
he represents the most uninhibited side of Mattoso's poetic identity,
engaging shamelessly in dionysian extravagance and excess (as shown, for
instance, in note # 7 to [A CONCRETE VISUAL PSEUDONYM]). In fact, Pedro
o Podre is the author credited with one of Mattoso's most critical and
controversial aesthetic documents: the "Manifesto Coprofágico."
It is in the "Manifesto Coprofágico" that Oswaldian anthropophagy most
clearly resonates. The primary literary goal Mattoso is attempting to
accomplish with the JORNAL DOBRABIL is the following: "fazer a
coprofagia da antropofagia." To appropriate and subvert this modernist
literary strategy, Mattoso engages in a parodic re-working of Oswald's
already satirical "Manifesto Antropófago," which, much like the JORNAL
DOBRABIL, was presented as a single page in a journal, REVISTA DE
ANTROPOFAGIA, itself reflecting the visual presentation of a large-scale
newspaper. To reiterate, Oswaldian "anthropophagy" essentially involves
a devouring of "First World" culture, after which a process of selective
digestion occurs, in which some of the colonizer's culture becomes
integrated into Brazilian culture. This cultural residue subsequently
combines with other elements to transform itself into something new and
distinct and, in the final product, uniquely Brazilian. The undesirable
traits of the devoured and digested culture, for their lack of
application or relevance to Brazilian society, are spit out – discarded
rather than appropriated. And Mattoso, a self-acknowledged "sub-product"
of Oswald de Andrade, and a generation removed, has created a manifesto
to treat the residue, the by-products, so to speak, of Oswaldian
anthropophagy. Taking up one of Brazilian Modernism's most subversive
aesthetic projects with irony and humor, Mattoso's preoccupations begin
where Oswald's end: if the anthropophagist has eaten somebody, our
cannibal will undoubtedly experience a bowel movement. Mattoso's
multiple poetic voices receive the waste deposits of culture with a
hearty appetite, eating the feces, or metaphorically, ingesting
"undesirable" or perhaps "un-in-corpo-rable" cultural elements that have
been consumed and rejected (or e-jected).
In a postmodern anti-aesthetic re-working of Oswaldian anthropophagy,
Mattoso proudly and angrily – but with tongue-in-cheek – identifies
himself as a revolted member of the colonized Third World.
(b) "MANIFESTIVO VANGUARDADA" OR "IV MANIFESTO DA VANGUARDA"
In the JORNAL DOBRABIL, Mattoso contends: "Todo grande classico da
litteratura é um plagio, ainda que não intencional. E todo grande
manifesto da vanguarda é um classico, ainda que não intencional" (28).
Similarly, he defines originality as "the one who plagiarizes first"
and, elsewhere, as merely an imitation that is better than the other
imitations. (JD, 21) The "Quarto Manifesto da Vanguarda," or
"Manifestivo Vanguardada" demonstrates Mattoso's cynical theory on
plagiarism as well as his competence in the techniques of bricolage and
collage, artistic and literary forms which, as we shall see, have become
increasingly associated with both modernism and postmodernism.
"Vanguardada" clearly alludes to "Dadaism." [4] In the alternate
reading, the "Fourth" Manifesto serves to ironically contradict what
Mattoso holds to be the naïve faith in pure or original literary forms.
Essentially, the Manifesto examines the effectiveness of plagiarism and
parody as instruments of satire. Its premise can be summarized with a
single statement that the author made in one of our interviews: "Não faz
diferença se uma obra é de Shakespeare ou não. Se estou plagiando
Shakespeare ou se não estou. Na verdade, vai tudo virar papel
higiênico." The most critical verse of the poem is likely the following:
"a creação é uma / fraude." The Manifesto attempts to show that when
authors write, they are only deceiving themselves to think that they are
creating anything original. Instead, they are unconsciously reproducing
or repeating ideas that others have already conceived. In fact, the
verse, "todas as idéas / são de todos" infers a certain universality or
even a collective consciousness that unites all human beings in an
ability to create and strips the individual of the power to claim credit
for having "invented" an idea. Accordingly, Mattoso denies the poet of
any right to exercise ownership of an idea: "ABAIXO O / COMPOSITOR!" the
poetic voice shouts in protest to such pretentiousness. Whether an
author chooses to accept this reality or not, contends Mattoso, she is
merely manipulating ideas that are stored in her own cultural baggage,
ideas who others with similar histories, values, or beliefs may also
have conceived:
IV MANIFESTO DA VANGUARDA ou
MANIFESTIVO VANGUARDADA [11.1] [1977]
A obra é um roubo.
O leitor é um bobo.
O autor é um ladrão. [auctor]
A autoria é uma usurpação. [auctoria]
A autoridade, idem ibidem. [auctoridade]
A criação é uma fraude. [creação]
Criatividade é repertório. [Creatividade]
Imaginação é memória.
Em arte nada se cria, tudo se copia.
E não venham dizer que isto já foi dito: [dicto]
Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt.
A história é anônima. [anonyma]
A estória é espúria.
Não interessa saber se Shakespeare existiu ou não existiu, [si]
esta é a questão.
Idéia não é propriedade. [Idéa]
Samba é como passarinho.
Viva o passarinho!
Viva o samba!
Abaixo o compositor!
Todas as idéias são de todos. [idéas]
É tão lícito plagiar quanto reivindicar autoria. [auctoria]
É até mais lícito:
O plágio é mais honesto que o original.
Ladrão que rouba ladrão tem perdão perpétuo.
Viva a chupada!
Viva a cama!
Abaixo a fama!
A imortalidade fede! [immortalidade]
Abaixo os merdalhões!
Ficar para a posteridade é virar bosta.
Fazer história é peidar no esgoto.
Todo ismo é ultrapassado, não importa o que o anteceda:
Nullum est iam dictum, quod non dictum sit prius.
A todo ismo, o iconoclasmo,
exceto ao niilismo. [nihilismo]
O mais estéril dos niilismos: [nihilismos]
Nihil sub sole novum.
Nada de novo underground.
O mais fértil dos niilismos. [nihilismos]
E agora, João?
Agora é tripudiar.
Se não há criação, não há criador. [Si; creação; creador]
E se Deus morre, tudo é permitido. [si; permittido]
Ao menos na idéia. [idéa]
Dacaísmo é isso: dá cá, venha a nós.
Ao vosso reino, ó reis, toma lá naquela parte! [naquella]
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 2)
Mattoso's use of archaic orthography and latinisms is a rhetorical
strategy intended to contradict notions of novelty and originality by
repeating old forms and therefore evoking former times. The didactic
tone and pseudo-proverbial style further enhances traditional manuals of
instruction that were designed to model principles of behavior or
aesthetics of writing, an old Portuguese literary convention dating back
to the LEAL CONSELHEIRO, written by Dom Duarte (1391-1438), King of
Portugal. Simultaneously, Mattoso cannot resist the urge to satirize
both the passion and the pretension abundant in modernist vanguard
manifestos, such as the "Manifesto Antropófago," already examined in
chapter two.
The process of collage – or better, "bricolage" – that characterizes
Mattoso's concretist poems as well as his sonnets – is itself
appropriated from writers like Oswald de Andrade, whose SERAFIM PONTE
GRANDE is made up of chunks of various possible books. Another
contemporary Brazilian writer who comes to mind, identified as an
"escritor do submundo," is João Antônio, whose marginalized narrators
often appropriate popular culture and stereotypes of others. Claude
Lévi-Strauss defines "bricolage" as a process whereby one "lifts a
certain number of elements from works, objects, preexisting messages,
and [...] integrates them in a new creation in order to produce an
original totality, manifesting ruptures of diverse sorts." (COLLAGES;
Ulmer, 84) As Gregory Ulmer states in "The Object of Post-Criticism":
"Post-modernist collage writing takes the word "copyright" to mean "the
right to copy anything, a mimicry or repetition which is originary,
producing differences" (96). As if in the Post-Modern Age, we have not
yet internalized the worn-out cliché, "There is nothing new under the
sun," one of Glauco Mattoso's objectives is to demystify the alleged
"purity" inherent in the creative process, showing that the cultural
collective has already conceived any idea that SEEMS novel. Mattoso
reserves the right, however, to pay homage to the writers he admires by
appropriating their ideas and transforming them, thereby giving them a
longer and richer life. As the author contends, in a January 1999
interview:
[Porque na verdade 'poesia pura' não existe. Eu faço uma colagem, mas na
verdade eu raciocino em cima da colagem que estou fazendo. É o que eu
chamo de 'plágio inteligente.' Porque [...] quando você se apropria de
uma idéia, trabalha essa idéia, constrói essa idéia, mexe com essa
idéia, com algum propósito – ainda que seja um propósito brincalhão –
você está exercitando a sua inteligência, a sua capacidade de criação.]
The artist committing "intelligent" plagiarism is one who has the
courage to acknowledge and admit that she does not "own" the ideas that
she is presenting. Rather, Mattoso argues that the artist has an
aesthetic responsibility to re-present the production of others in a
different light or with a new twist. Claims of "originality," in any
ideal sense, are therefore impossible and should be met with skepticism.
As Mattoso writes: "o plagio é mais / honesto que o / original." [5]
In more purely aesthetic terms, collage writing is a strategy that
Mattoso consciously uses to escape from the confinements of structure,
resulting in polysemic creations that offer an almost unlimited play of
signifiers and consequently a multitude of interpretations. I have
already examined, throughout this dissertation, a number of
"trocadilhos" or "jogos de palavra" which the author constructs and
employs with great care. An additional and very important example is the
neologism "pueteiro," which appears in MEMÓRIAS DE UM PUETEIRO: AS
MELHORES GOZAÇÕES DE GLAUCO MATTOSO, a compilation of poems that the
author selected from among his own works previously published in
instalments of the JORNAL DOBRABIL. There are multiple possible
interpretations for this term, many of which are interdependent on one
another to generate a fuller and richer sense of meaning. First, it is
evident that the "o" vowel often has a /u/ sound in pre-tonic positions,
a phenomenon which occurs frequently in spoken Portuguese, resulting in
a colloquial rendering of the word, "poeteiro," itself a neologism. The
Portuguese suffix "-eiro" often corresponds to the English suffixes,
"-er" and "-or," thereby conveying an active sense of construction, a
"maker" or "creator" of something. By extension, the "pu(o)eta-fazedor"
may also be interpreted semantically as one who "does" poetry. Secondly,
"pueteiro" also results in a paronomastic link with the word,
"punheteiro," due to the sonorous similarity between the two. A
punheteiro is clearly one who masturbates, or perhaps more precisely
translated in the colloquialism that Mattoso frequently strives to
preserve: a "wanker." Thirdly, it may be noted that "punheteiro" also
connotes an expression that is found in both English and Portuguese,
"punheta mental," or intellectual masturbation. In this sense, the term
reflects a critique of the elitism that surrounds conventional notions
of the profession of the "poeta-criador," degrading the poet's powers of
original creation to the status of one whose words contribute solely to
his own pleasure and do not necessarily bear any importance or even
relevance outside of the poet's own priority of attaining, with his
verses, self-satisfaction. "Punheteiro," in other words, serves to link
the production of poetry with the creation of orgasm, emphasizing not
only the pleasure of producing poetry but also highlighting the
inseparable Mattosian link between poetry and the erotic or
pornographic. A fourth allusion offered by the neologism "pueteiro" is
achieved by simply dropping the vowel "e," thus resulting in the word
"puteiro," a whorehouse or brothel. Metaphorically, poetry inhabits a
carnivalesque "zone" of prostitution, existing in a utopic space where
laws or rules or codes cannot contaminate it and therefore this space
remains sacred in its anarchy and elusiveness. A fifth interpretation of
the title, MEMÓRIAS DE UM PUETEIRO, is one that is more generic in
nature. The term "Memórias" recalls canonical Brazilian fictional works
that have been highly esteemed, many of which can be categorized in the
Romantic period precisely because of the call for enhanced subjectivity
and the intensely personalized "I" that became so aesthetically
valorized during Romanticism and in other literary epochs: MEMÓRIAS
PÓSTUMAS DE BRÁS CUBAS, by Machado de Assis and MEMÓRIAS DE UM SARGENTO
DE MILÍCIAS, by Manuel Antônio de Almeida, are just two examples of the
subjective memoirs that Mattoso's title evokes.
Collage writing in some of Mattoso's poetry may perhaps be more
adequately conceptualized as "mimed writing," a deconstructive approach
that Ulmer connects with Derridean experiments in massive citation:
[The working assumption was that repetition is originary [...] Derrida's
desire to superimpose one text on the other [...] is an attempt to
devise asystem of reference or representation which works in terms of
'différance' with its reversible temporality [...] From the very
beginning, then, the strategy of deconstruction has been repetition.]
(93)
As he embarks on citing, manipulating, transforming, and subverting a
poem appropriated from Luís de Camões, Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage,
Olavo Bilac, and other consecrated Luso-Brazilian authors, Mattoso
carefully searches for points where fragmentation, addition, omission,
inversion, anagrams, paronomasia, onomatopoeia, and other rhetorical
devices may effect a successful dismemberment of the text he is
operating upon, surgically removing evidence of coded language of poetic
discourse mandated by aesthetic judgments of literary value and
replacing them, in postmodern fashion, with fragmented and often
anti-aesthetic language. In a technique that may best be defined as
"cutting and pasting," Mattoso appropriates and then "anthropophagizes"
poetic texts in a plan to attain contemporary relevance.
"Bilacamonia," originally from the collection, "Sonettos intalianos &
sonnetos ingreses," in the JORNAL DOBRABIL, effectively superimposes
some of the great works of Olavo Bilac's Parnassian sonnets with those
excerpted from Luís de Camões, and vice-versa. With such a technique,
Mattoso simultaneously accomplishes a re-valorization of the work of
both poets as well as a subversive profanation of their verses.
Explaining his aesthetic intentions for this poem, Mattoso writes:
[Nasceu como um 'readymade': eu costumava fazer colagens com pedaços de
poemas famosos, e, quando percebi que as palavras iniciais dos versos do
'Nel mezzo del camin' de Bilac se encaixavam direitinho às finais do
'Alma minha' de Camões, bastou cortar ambos ao meio na vertical e
emendar a metade esquerda de um soneto na direita do outro, aparando as
rebarbas. Isso é o que se chama 'emenda', certo?]
(MEMÓRIAS DE UM PUETEIRO, 55)
The poem is quoted in its entirety below:
BILACAMONIA [2.6] [1977]
cheguei partiste
e triste descontente
tinhas a alma no céu eternamente
e a alma na terra sempre triste
e paramos de súbito onde subiste
da vida desta vida se consente
a tua mão amor ardente
tive da luz que viste
hoje pode merecer-te
nem o pranto que me ficou
nem mágoa sem remédio de perder-te
e eu solitário anos encurtou
vendo a ver-te
na extrema curva de meus olhos te levou
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 2)
Mattoso's collage of the two most important canonical Luso-Brazilian
sonnetists is extended to include allusions to other great poets who
preceded them and from whom various words and phrases were also
appropriated by Bilac and Camões. In other words, it is true that
"partiste" is the last word that appears in a verse contained in Camões'
sonnet, "Alma minha." Similarly, "cheguei" is appropriated from Bilac's
work, "Nel mezzo del camin." The collage is constituted with a word
excerpted from the beginning of a Bilaquian sonnet followed by a word at
the end of a sonnet composed by Camões. The result of the collage is a
new poem with different meanings yet one that maintains the beautiful
sonority of the originals, whose life and relevance he prolonged by
cutting and pasting an "original" poem out of them. However, the reader
should keep in mind that Bilac exercised his right to appropriate his
phrase from Dante, just as Carlos Drummond de Andrade Brazilianized the
quote with his famous modernist poem, "No meio do caminho."
"Bilacamonia," with its subversive repetitions and appropriations is
characteristic of Fredric Jameson's notion of "pastiche," discussed in
"Postmodernism and Consumer Society," which is essentially defined as a
notion in which parody has been degenerated to an imitative art form
that mocks the very notion of originality or purity and acknowledges the
indefinability or perhaps the inutility of arriving at the originary
(THE ANTI-AESTHETIC: ESSAYS ON POSTMODERN CULTURE, 114). By simply
showing that "original" ideas are actually copied from other sources,
Mattoso not only validates the legitimacy of collage as a poetic form in
canonical works but also philosophically refutes the contention that any
notion of originality is idealistic at best and satirizes, in cynical
postmodern verse, the traditional poetic conventions that strive to
attain it. While one may expect a reading of such a poem to produce a
chaotic, collage-like effect, quite the contrary is true. Even though
the original verses of both Bilac and Camões have been disrupted and
syntactically if not semantically subverted, their unification does not
create significant confusion in the discursive nature of the new poem
produced.
Two other collage/montage poems that are worth noting here include
"Rifoneiro" and "Cansioneiro." Contrary to anthropophagizing the best
sonnets of Classical Luso-Brazilian verse, both of these works provide
excellent insight into Brazilian popular culture by appropriating and
reincorporating popular Brazilian proverbs and MPB (música popular
brasileira) in inventive ways. In the case of "Rifoneiro" (JORNAL
DOBRABIL 4), Mattoso constructs a list of diverse proverbs and then
elaborates an intricate process of attempting to poeticize as well as
politicize them:
RIFONEIRO [2.1] [1977]
O ventre em jejum, não ouve a nenhum.
Vontade de rei, não conhece lei.
Não faz por nenhum, quem faz por comum.
Deus diz: faze TU, que eu te ajudarei.
A mau falador, discreto ouvidor.
Faze pé atrás, melhor saltarás.
Deseja o melhor, espera o pior.
Madruga e verás, trabalha e terás.
A quem Deus quer bem, ao rosto lhe vem.
A quem medo hão, o seu logo dão.
Além ou aquém, ver sempre com quem.
Dois lobos a um cão, bem o comerão.
Comer e coçar, é só começar.
Faz bem jejuar, depois de jantar.
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 4)
Fourteen decasyllabic proverbs, all of which bear some relevance to the
first and the last, contribute to formulating a social critique of
misery and suffering, culminating with the highly ironic "It's good to
fast, after having already dined." "Rifoneiro" is a poem that recalls,
in theme if not in form, the social consciousness of poetry
representative of other concretist poets, such as Haroldo de Campos,
whose "Poesia em tempo de fome" also illustrated that the basic reality
that people are starving to death cannot be transcended – and should be
included – in a conception of poetry as a means to critique social
injustice. Clearly, the meaning of the first adage in "Rifoneiro" is
intimately connected to that of the last, forming a chain of signifiers
throughout the poem. The exploited, tired, and hungry individual who has
subscribed to the adages listed in the poem has his attention distracted
and redirected to the theme of food and eating, for he cannot repress
such a basic and essential necessity. His suffering is paralleled by his
exploitation, in a series of proverbs that encourage a strong work
ethic, instructions from a God perpetually wanting more done before he
is willing to provide assistance, and the extravagance of a king, whose
privileges severely surpass the basic needs of the one who cannot afford
to eat. The final two verses of the poem are particularly concerned with
images of food and consumption, as they ironically encourage the subject
implicit in the poem to take a seat at the table and eat before deciding
to do without food, as if there were any opportunity to partake of a
feast before the obligatory fast.
On a more general level, "Rifoneiro" also reinforces Mattoso's constant
preoccupation with "comida" that must be consumed as the initial stage
before its discarded elements can emerge as "cagada." The connection is
a simple one. As he stated in one of our interviews: "Você parte da
antropofagia para chegar à coprofagia. Então o ato de comer está
implícito porque você não pode cagar uma coisa que você não comeu. Você
tem sempre uma idéia pela presença do ato da refeição, da deglutição
para chegar a uma noção."
In "Cansioneiro" (JORNAL DOBRABIL 19), the reader is treated to a
musical combination of titles, themes, and lyrics of some of the most
revered (and repeatedly performed) songs of contemporary Brazilian
popular music. The poem does not bear reproducing here [6], for it is
the title itself that is charged with the critical commentary that
Mattoso hopes to accomplish: The "s" in "Cansioneiro" effectively mixes
"cansar" (to become tired) with "canção" (song), a pun inferring that
these songs have been repeated so many times that their listeners have
tired of the same old tunes. Included in the extensive musical
repertoire are hits by Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento,
and a few old classics. [7]
(c) "PARA-CONCRETE" AND VISUAL POETRY
To more fully understand the processes of subversion and transgression
at work in Mattoso's poetry, it is necessary to examine samples of the
poems that mock the pseudo-objectivity and pseudo-eruditism of the
Brazilian Concrete poetry movement initiated by a series of NOIGANDRES
anthologies published from 1952-58. The most well-known contributors to
these works include Haroldo de Campos, [Augusto de Campos], and Décio
Pignatari. The fourth edition of NOIGANDRES, published in 1958, included
"Plano-Piloto para Poesia Concreta." [8] While it is not within the
scope of this dissertation to elaborate a detailed study of the project
of Concretism, one that many literary critics have already performed
extensively, it is necessary to review some of the basic elements so
that comparisons may effectively be made with Mattoso's work. [9]
Inspired both by the first generation of Brazilian Modernism and by
doctrines contained in the futurist, dadaist, and surrealist movements,
the concretists predominantly called for the replacement of poetic verse
by graphical syntax. Mallarmé's "Un coup de dés jamais, n'abolira le
hasard" (1897) was often revered as an ideal work of concretism, for it
was the first recognized poem in which its meaning was not conveyed at
the thematic level but rather as a result of its verbo-visual structure.
As Alfredo Bosi asserts in his HISTÓRIA CONCISA DA LITERATURA
BRASILEIRA, "O Concretismo toma a sério, e de modo radical, a definição
de arte como 'techné,' isto é, como atividade produtora. De onde,
primeiro corolário: o poema é identificado como 'objeto de linguagem'"
(532). During its most revolutionary phase, true concretists embarked on
a poetic project that called for the obliteration of the subject pronoun
"I." Each poem was to serve as an object for mass consumption rather
than a personal document that might be deemed inaccessible to the
collective readership.
It is interesting to note that, in both the lexical and semantic realms,
even Mattoso's discursive poems – i.e., written in poetic verse with
the presence of a poetic voice – are solidly characteristic of
concretist ideals. More specifically, semantically, Mattoso's poems, as
we have already seen, are filled with polysemy, puns or "trocadilhos"
that emphasize multiple significances, the repeated use of paronomasia
(exploiting terms not only on the basis of similar sounds but also to
convey concrete and multiple relationships between the signifier and the
signified), and thematic notions of inutility or the nonsensical. On the
lexical level, Mattoso's poems reveal an abundance of concrete nouns,
the existence of neologisms, the employment of foreign languages, and
plurilingual terms. [10]
With dozens of poems that both emulate and mimic the hermetic nature of
the concrete movement as well as mock the notion of the object-poem,
Mattoso, who originally characterized himself as a concretist poet,
composed a repertoire of poems that faithfully preserve the verbo-visual
form of an intricate and well-constructed concrete poem while often
subverting the very notions of objectivity and consumability that the
concrete movement hoped to attain. "Poema concreto," for example,
specifically satirizes the famous "coca cola" by Décio Pignatari [11], a
pioneer of semiotics and theory of communication in Brazil, achieving an
identical visual effect but with Mattosian oral-anal fixation as the
subversive thematic motif: "coco / boca / cu / cocô." (JORNAL DOBRABIL
11).
POEMA CONCRETO [16.5] [1977]
As such, works like "Poema concreto" offer a caricature of the standard
concrete poem. In one of our interviews, Mattoso revealed a special
affinity for concrete poetry and thus claimed to ridicule its tenets
much more softly than some of his more ferocious attacks on other
literary conventions: "na verdade, eu me sentia à vontade para satirizar
o concretismo como qualquer outra coisa – só que o concretismo eu
satirizei de uma forma até mais carinhosa, que estava mais próxima de
mim."
In his ongoing desire to hybridize genres, creating literary products
that combine two or more conventional styles, "Carne quitada" is a
brilliantly-composed poem which can only be classified ambiguously as a
"concrete sonnet." Such a definition subverts the obliteration of the
subject as well as the lack of versification, both esteemed by
concretism. Mattoso's poetry, therefore, often transcends any serious
attempt to categorize it. The text and spatialization of "Carne quitada"
are reproduced below:
CARNE QUITADA [16.25] [1977]
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 6)
The only major difference in the original publication of this poem,
which is categorized as part of the "Sonettos intalianos & sonnetos
ingreses" series, is that the letters are larger and they are
constructed via Mattoso's dactylographic art; i.e, shaped by tiny "o"s.
Viewed vertically, the piece has the aesthetic disposition and semiotic
function of a typical concrete poem; that is, the carefully ordered
spatialization of letters dispersed throughout the page and a deliberate
plan that decides the precise proportion of blank white paper to black
typography.
However, analyzed horizontally, its discursive poetic meaning, which
contains a rhyme scheme characteristic of a classical sonnet, becomes
evident: "Da vivida vida vi solvida a dívida que dividi na queda da
quebradiça psique." In addition, its alliteration is also a conscious
value in the discursive poetic tradition. Mattoso engages in a technique
of unrolling or unfolding the word "vida" to its constitutive parts. The
end of each of the verses results in the construction of a classical
sonnet, for the rhyme scheme is ABBA ABBA CDC DCD. ("da / vi / vi / da /
da / vi / vi / da / di / que / di / que / di / que"). In addition to
being a creative hybridization of a concrete poem and a sonnet, "Carne
Quitada" subverts the "plano-piloto" of concrete poetry in at least two
ways: it has syntactic meaning and it contains the personal subject
"eu": "vi" and "dividi." As stated above, the concretist project called
for the abolition of both the "I" and obscuring the discursive meaning
that may be construed from poetic verse. Subjective poetry seems a
complete contradiction from its concrete counterpart. Mattoso derives
much of his poetic transgression exactly from this process of
juxtaposing accepted or canonized traditions that are normally perceived
as contradictory. After entering these conventions into conflict,
Mattoso derives a new product from the friction and hybridization that
emerges, ultimately creating a surprisingly not-so-chaotic collage.
While its meaning is vague and hermetic in nature, and as always,
subject to the interpretation of the reader, "Carne Quitada" is not as
inaccessible as an ordinary concrete poem might be. I would like to
propose one possible reading. Implicit in the poem is the occurrence of
some unidentified traumatic experience that resulted in permanently
damaging the psyche; perhaps blindness, in the case of Mattoso. With
such a sacrifice, the spiritual "debt" has been paid: "vi solvida a
dívida." The poetic voice, perhaps with bitterness or perhaps with a
new-found liberation, has paid for all his sins by the trauma that now
plagues him. Two images in the poem serve as metaphors for the
juxtaposition of concretism and classical verse in this poem: "psique"
and "quebradiça." The spiritual psyche is concretized, for it is
physically broken, as if it were a glass of water that falls to the
floor and shatters into tiny pieces. In "Carne Quitada," the fragile
human spirit has become a material object. It is important to note here
that it is a dangerous generalization to say that Mattoso's subversion
of concretism applies to each of the stages of concrete poetry's
development. However, Mattoso's works mocks concretism best during its
"purest" or perhaps most radical manifestation of its aesthetic ideals,
such as the height of abolition of subjectivity and discursive meaning.
After all, many of the concrete poets themselves, including Augusto de
Campos, eventually restored subjective elements to poetic composition.
The majority of Mattoso's concrete poems are covert protestations
against military dictatorship and repression in general. For example, "O
Deputado (conto-processo)" (JORNAL DOBRABIL 8), is a graphical poem in
which "ESQUERDA" gradually merges with "DIREITA" through the course of
the poem. Slowly, the actual letters become so confused and enmeshed
that neither posture takes precedence over the other. For example, about
midway through the process, the reader finds "QUERDIREITA." Ultimately,
however, the left has been totally absorbed by the right, and the
results are spatially configured by overlapping the right margins of the
remaining three verses of the poem as such:
O DEPUTADO [16.26] [1977]
(conto-processo)
E S Q U E R D A D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D A D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D A D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D A D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
E S Q U E R D I R E I T A
S Q U E R D I R E I T A
S Q U E R D I R E I T A
Q U E R D I R E I T A
Q U E R D I R E I T A
U E R D I R E I T A
U E R D I R E I T A
E R D I R E I T A
E R D I R E I T A
R D I R E I T A
R D I R E I T A
D I R E I T A
D I R E I T A
I R E I T A
I R E I T A
I R E I T A
I R E I T A
"O Deputado," much like "Economia Política," which is reproduced below,
both serve to reflect on the unification of apparent contradictions.
Generally, "right" and "left," as political constructs, are two sides of
the same coin. Each construct is required for the very survival of its
opposite. What looms especially significant in this poem, however, is
the fact that a slightly altered but not obliterated "(D)IREITA" emerges
as the only survivor. The reason for this, as Mattoso pointed out in an
interview, is historical: "Isso foi feito numa época em que a direita
estava predominando, inclusive de uma forma ditatorial." And so, the
equilibrium of contrasting elements was temporarily broken and an
unbalanced and repressive regime emerged victorious.
"O Deputado"'s subtitle "(conto-processo)" is an ironic hybridization
and critique of the poema-processo, a popular Brazilian vanguard in the
1970s. Mattoso seems to be critiquing, once again, the pretentiousness
of vanguard literary movements. The "poema-processo" was the aesthetic
conception that emerged out of "poesia concreta." [12] Mattoso may also
be intending to appropriate some of its aesthetic tenets, for
"poesia-processo," at the time, allowed a greater nexus of meaning, of
syntax, than concretism formerly did. Clearly, though, the ultimate
decision to collide "conto" and "processo" was to mock monolithic
compartmentalizations of poetic works as well as to strive, if only in
parentheses, to achieve a multiplicity of genres.
"Economia Política," once again in the form of Décio Pignatari's
ideogrammatic "coca cola," similarly describes the essence of the
political game:
ECONOMIA POLÍTICA [16.11] [1977]
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 4)
This poem can be read in at least three distinct ways: "PODER DE DEPOR";
"PODER DE PÔR"; or "PODER PODE PÔR." With whichever interpretation the
reader pursues, power always takes the active role in placating or
putting (people, things, places) in precisely the way that it would
like. As I will attempt to show with specific examples, power and
repression, contextualized by the Brazilian military dictatorship, is a
major motif in most of Mattoso's concrete poems. One may also note, in
the above poem, allusions to the Brazilian colloquial exclamation "Pô!"
(an abbreviated variation on "porra," literally "sperm" but often
translated as "damn," "fuck," or other interjection with variable
pejorative weight). "Pó" alludes also to "dust" and perhaps more likely
to the Brazilian slang for cocaine, as in the English equivalent of
"coke." I have selected only a small number of works that reflect, in my
reading, Mattoso's socio-political protest as well as demonstrate the
art of poetic subversion that he cultivates. "As ruínas do hino," is a
covert concrete poem that can hardly obscure its virulent political
protest against colonization and imperialism:
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 8)
The poem is a critical subversion of the core verses of the Brazilian
national anthem: "Ó Pátria amada, idolatrada, salve, salve." The
fragment of the hymn has itself become fragmented with the omission of
several critical letters. The following "revisions" occur: "Amada" is
transformed into its paronomastic "armada," alluding to the military
dictatorship then in power. "Dolar" emerges from the explosion of
"idolatrada," alluding to American imperialism within Brazil. With the
butchering of "idolatrada" and "salve" the end product, "salada" comes
to represent a new "brasilidade," one that is based on a mixture of
Brazilianness with foreign influences.
Ironically, then, the Brazilian "national anthem" has completely lost
the sense of autonomous nationality that it proclaims. By extension, and
conveying the same meaning, one may interpret that the "salada," the
melting-pot, is the only thing that has remained "salvada," implying the
obsolescence of anything uniquely or peculiarly Brazilian.
"Brasil, país do futurismo," also part of the "Sonettos intalianos e
sonnetos ingreses" collection, is highly representative of the
surrealistic praise of nonsense, for it seeks to form a minimalist
sonnet by fragmenting and dispersing all of the letters of the word that
is said to be the longest in the Portuguese language,
"inconstitucionalissimamente," as well as a popular slogan of propaganda
used during the military dictatorship:
BRASIL, PAÍS DO FUTURISMO [2.4] [1977]
uísque frenesi
prostitucional amante
incompassivamente
eu I
vinis fremente
peste queima
uma
preciosa análise constituinte
estou felicíssimo e contente
vou a nau
ou a vau pro carnaval
nunca vi coisa assim sensacional
este é um país que vai pra frente
inconstitucionalissimamente
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 18)
The ultimate slogan of the military regime, "Este é um país que vai para
a frente," uncontained in its "ufanismo" and overt nationalism, is
subverted by the longest word in the language of the people whom it
oppresses. As such, the regime is portrayed to be politically
illegitimate, regardless of the fact that the country may seem to be
making great progress in economic and technological terms. Progress has
been attained at the cost of sacrificing democratic freedoms. This poem,
extremely visual in its effect, comes together through a gradual
unification of anagrams whose sounds and syllables eventually confer
meaning in the last two verses. One may interpret meaning much earlier
in the poem, however. The verses "estou felicíssimo e contente / vou a
nau / ou a vau pro carnaval" is reminiscent of the notion that Carnaval,
to paraphrase Marxist thought, is indeed the opiate of the masses. In
other words, in spite of the misery and social injustices occurring
during the military regime, the "povo" (represented by the poetic voice)
become distracted by the festivities and the social inversions during
Carnaval, thus become anaesthecized into passivity.
Mattoso does not only utilize the concrete mode of poetry for political
"engajamento." There are also works which combine denunciations of
military dictatorship with homoerotic themes. For example, the poem
"Culistano" inverts and subverts the motto of São Paulo's statehood:
"Non ducor duco," which, in Latin, roughly means: "I am not led. I
lead." The notion in this motto is one of pride, that São Paulo, with
the strongest economy in Brazil, the most advanced pace of
industrialization, the commercial capital of Brazil and indeed of all of
South America, as well as the most populous state in Brazil, has earned
the right to take an active role in leadership. [13]
Once again, in a veiled protest against the abuse of power during the
military regime, which interfered in the liberties the "paulistas"
themselves had earned, the poem re-configures the stately maxim to read:
CULISTANO [16.38] [1980]
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 34)
Essentially, the "pau-" in "paulistano" is re-conceptualized as a prefix
and is then substituted for one of Mattoso's favorite images: "cu." "Dou
cu" obviously implies the passive role in sexual intercourse, while "D
COR" may also allude to a certain gay sensibility in its connection to
"decoração." The sense of "de cor," implying "by heart," may allude to
the subsequent internalization (after the memorization) of the patriotic
motto. The word "cu" and variants that contain it abound in Mattoso's
graphical poems. In fact, the author often employs the vocalic
substitution of "o" for "u" as it is permissible and fairly common in
spoken Portuguese. "Curreio," for example, is the site in both the
JORNAL DOBRABIL and the REVISTA DEDO MINGO (a play on the consecrated
REVISTA DE DOMINGO, translating literally to "Little Finger Review")
where an exchange of literary and political ideas takes place between
actual readers, fictitious readers, Glauco Mattoso, and many of his
heteronyms. As might be expected, Pedro o Podre is the heteronym
assigned to respond most defensively to those readers who criticize the
JORNAL DOBRABIL, particularly on the grounds of bad taste. One concerned
reader was disturbed by his inability to discern which of the pieces are
"truly" attributable to Pedro o Podre and those for which the orthonym,
Glauco Mattoso, is responsible. "P.o P." responds ironically,
encouraging the reader to delight in his own confusion: "Não se grile,
sei que confundo todo mundo e todo mundo me confunde. Mas eu e Glauco
somos um. É que não sou outro cara, mas uma cara metade. É bom cultivar
a ambigüidade" (JORNAL DOBRABIL 23).
[NOTES]
[1] See [SOURCES]. For Butterman's introduction and contents, see
[A TRANSGRESSOR AS CASE STUDY].
[2] My translation is approximate, since the Portuguese term for
"foldable" is literally "dobrável" and not "dobrábil." A more ludic,
precise, but highly problematic translation may be rendered as follows:
"The Brasealable Newspaper," provided that the notion of "seal" be used
to reflect folds or creases in a newspaper.
[3] Heteronymity (or "heteronímia" in Portuguese) refers to one of
Fernando Pessoa's (1888-1935) most critical and controversial modernist
projects: the "desdobramento" of the subject in his poetic universe. In
fact, as Pessoa maintained, the poetic voice should constitute an entire
universe, as he consciously multiplies his own identities. The intent of
the creation of heteronyms, or other "I"s, was to consciously divide the
poetic personality in order to understand truth more fully or, rather,
various versions of truth(s). The origin of Pessoan heteronymity remains
problematic, but it is generally agreed that the process evolved out of
the crisis in positivism, which resulted in a lack of confidence in
Western dichotomies, consequently stirring the creation of distinct
ideologies, and finally leading to the multiplication of the subject.
The search for alter-egos led Pessoa to give birth to three primary
heteronyms – Alberto Caeiro, Álvaro de Campos, and Ricardo Reis – and
several other semi-heteronyms. The reader may wish to consult Pessoa's
famous "Autopsicografia," which serves to summarize his quest for
alterity. Much scholarship has been performed with specific reference to
Pessoan heteronymity. For a perspective of heteronymity as a ludic
poetic exercise, see Antonio Tabacchi's PESSOANA MÍNIMA: ESCRITOS SOBRE
FERNANDO PESSOA (Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 1984).
Dionísio Vila Maior also offers a well-documented discussion, especially
in chapter three of FERNANDO PESSOA: HETERONÍMIA E DIALOGISMO: O
CONTRIBUTO DE MIKHAIL BAKHTINE (Coimbra: Livraria Almedina, 1994). Click
also [A CONCRETE VISUAL PSEUDONYM], note # 6.
[4] "Dadaism" is an avant-garde movement, experimenting with collage
pictures, against bourgeois culture. It was founded in 1916 in
Switzerland by Tristan Tzara, a French poet born in Romania. Dadaism
lived a brief existence, for it gave way to the surrealist movement by
1922. Dadaist techniques and anarchic expression significantly
influenced the first generation of Brazilian modernist writers and
artists (especially during its most experimental stage, around 1922-25).
[5] Plagiarism and originality, innovation and renovation are, among
others, themes of the Spanish-language poems which Mattoso attributes to
his heteronym Garcia Loca. Click [SCATOLOGY AND "COPROPHAGY"] (note #2)
and [PORNOGRAPHY AND HOMOEROTICISM] (note #4). Click also [PERFORMATIVE
SADOMASOCHISM AND FETISHISM] and see "The Performative Value of
Repetition."
[6] This is the sonnet in its entirety:
CANSIONEIRO [2.3] [1977]
"Há várias maneiras de fazer música popular brasileira.
Eu prefiro todas." (SINHÔ)
viramundo vaila estrada violeiro
barravento ventania travessia disparada
arrastão veleiro saveiro jangadeiro canoeiro
caminhemos caminhando caminhada
andança chegança ponteio boiadeiro
berimbau arueira aruanda enluarada
opinião louvação cantador cirandeiro
banda sarabanda porta-estandarte batucada
incerteza insensatez inquietação
fracasso palhaço jurei errei sofri
antonico tico-tico maracangalha construção
rosa roda ronda bodas baby zambi
cadência decadência aquarela conceição
adalgisa amélia aurora irene geni
[7] "Rifoneiro" and "Cansioneiro" may both allude to the CANCIONEIRO
GERAL, published in 1516 by Garcia Resende, and examined in chapter two.
[8] This term was very much in evidence in the late 1950s because of
the arquitectural "Plano-Piloto de Brasília," by Lúcio Costa and Oscar
Niemeyer. Futurist geometry and pragmatic use of space and linearity
characterize the planned city of Brasília, formally inaugurated in 1960.
[9] The essential characteristics of concrete poetry include the
abolition of the verse and the poetic subject; a consciousness of
proportionality of white to black on the printed page; the quest for
polyssemy (multiple levels of meaning); and the influence of Chinese
ideograms. Concrete poems, in their most experimental phase, were
conceived as "verbivocovisual" constructions, implying that the poem
should simultaneously be verbal, sonorous, and visual in nature. In the
"Plano-Piloto para Poesia Concreta," the concrete poem is defined as
follows: "uma responsabilidade integral perante a linguagem. realismo
total. contra uma poesia de expressão, subjetiva e hedonística. criar
problemas exatos e resolvê-los em termos de linguagem sensível. uma arte
geral da palavra. o poema-produto: objeto útil." The reader may wish to
consult the following seminal studies of concretist poetry: António
Sérgio Mendonça e Álvaro Sá's POESIA DE VANGUARDA NO BRASIL, Charles A.
Perrone's SEVEN FACES: BRAZILIAN POETRY SINCE MODERNISM, as well as a
special issue of DISPOSITIO (Summer-Fall 1981), which contains articles
by Haroldo de Campos, Décio Pignatari and other Brazilian semioticians.
[10] According to Foster's bio-critical sourcebook (see [SOURCES]),
"Mattoso's dedication to often complicated and multilingual wordplay in
his texts [...] through various forms of troping (with all of the
unsubtlety associated with limericking and other broad forms of
wordplay) [...] demonstrates [his] interest in American cultural
sources, already evident in the U.S. English-based wordplay in his
erotic poetry." The following sonnet is typical of Mattoso's idiomatic
"antropofagia":
SPIK (SIC) TUPINIK [2.2] [1977]
(para Paulo Veríssimo)
Rebel without a cause, vômito do mito
da nova nova nova nova geração,
cuspo no prato e janto junto com palmito
o baioque (o forrock, o rockixe), o rockão.
Receito a seita de quem samba e roquenrola:
Babo, Bob, pop, pipoca, cornflake;
take a cocktail de coco com cocacola,
de whisky e estricnina make a milkshake.
Tem híbridos morfemas a língua que falo,
meio nega-bacana, chiquita-maluca;
no rolo embananado me embolo, me embalo,
soluço - hic - e desligo - clic - a cuca.
Sou luxo, chulo e chic, caçula e cacique.
I am a tupinik, eu falo em tupinik.
(JORNAL DOBRABIL 3)
As Butterman points out in his thesis, "an enhanced musicality
characterizes much of Mattoso's poetry, to the point where poems like
'Spik (sic) tupinik,' which treats linguistic hybridity in contemporary
Brazilian Portuguese language, have been transformed into songs and sold
commercially in that form." Click also [THE ROTTEN MUSICAL PRODUCER].
[11] The poem "coca cola" was published in NOIGANDRES 4 in 1957.
[12] "Poema-processo" and "Arte postal" (1967), which primarily
influenced literary circles in the cities of the interior of Brazil, are
intimately connected to the final phase of Concretism, which was
significantly affected by enhanced visuality and the importance of
popular art. Its founders [among others, Wlademir Dias-Pino, Álvaro de
Sá, Moacy Cirne, Ronaldo Werneck and Sebastião Nunes] conceived the
"poema-processo" as a natural evolution of the concrete poem, for it
totally eliminated versification and called for the reign of semiotic
production. The act of composing – the intention of the artist – was
valued more highly than the end result. Ultimately, computer-enhanced
and graphic arts led to the questioning of the appropriateness of the
book (the printed page) as a vehicle for the expression of poetry.
In relation to mail art, the following definition is given by Julio
Plaza, curator of the mail art exhibition at the XVI São Paulo Biennale
(1981), who (not coincidentally) arranged the layout for Mattoso's
JORNAL DOBRABIL in book format:
[Parallelly and alternatively to the official systems of culture, there
appears as an "unartistic action", a type of phenomenon, Mail Art or
Postal Art, critical to the propriety status in art, that is, to culture
as an economic practice, and which proposes the artistic information as
a process and not as accumulation. The producers organize themselves in
a spontaneous way and in affinity groups, to exchange ideas and
information, [which are] unartistic and paratactical, individualistic
and of Dada ascendency. [...] Among the multiple mediums conceived as
extensions of art and artists, Mail Art is a complex temporalspace
structure that absorbs and transmits any type of information or object,
that penetrates and dilutes in its communicational flux, generating
confusion about what is and what isn't Mail Art, [...] since in this
type of art predominates the spirit of mixture, of mediums and of
languages and the game is precisely to invade other time-spaces. Mail
Art (which is a pleasurable craft also) is essentially an art of medium
and of interpersonal communicational support or, at the maximum, of
microgroups. In it, all is contents: medium inside mediums. Therefore
Mail Art is every material or information that enters in its flux and
that has as dominant the communicative function. Hence the tendency to
not consider works of aesthetic character or even those created by
traditional means as Mail Art.] (from the exhibition's catalogue)
[13] It is important to remember that, while the motto was appropriated
by Mattoso to critique the most recent military regime, it was adopted
initially as part of São Paulo's response to the abuses of the federal
government following the 1930 Revolution. Such discontent with national
interference in state rights ultimately led to the Revolução
Constitucionalista in 1932, in which São Paulo essentially attempted to
secede from the Brazilian union.
° ° °
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