From ear to texture or listening as aesthetic productivity: Case of Arthur Bispo do Rosário

Abstract

During the last decades, the problem of listening has been treated from various fields of knowledge, including psychoanalysis (from Freud to today) and philosophy (with Jean Luc Nancy [2007] and Peter Sloterdijk [2001], to name only some). These studies have managed to establish the necessary drifts that contribute to thinking about certain cultural objects, from positions that admit other forms of analysis and interpretation. The present work addresses the problem of listening in two senses. First, as a procedure through which a critical-theoretical reading of certain cultural artifacts that goes beyond traditional exegesis is proposed. Second, as the origin of the aesthetic productivity of the Brazilian patient-artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário (¿? -1989), who creates his prolific and unique work during his confinement in the Juliano Moreira Psychiatric Colony, in Rio de Janeiro, inspired by The voice of God; that is to say, by delirious listening to him. Taking the above into account, we are interested in approaching do Rosário's work in order to analyze the aesthetic-delusional language of his work, starting from the listening-productivity relationship that characterizes his work.