Abstract
In light of the multifaceted New York repertoire planned by Hélio Oiticica (HO) between 1971 and 1972, we present an interartistic comparative interpretation on three intertwined artifacts that, in different ways, outlines a reflection on the island of Manhattan and its condition as the symbolic capital of a contemporary empire. From the epicenter of this empire, the margins of a civilization that the artist seeks to sabotage through a subverted incarnation of its myths and paradigms are explored. The symbols associated with this toponym are reiterated — evoking the same phallic features — in the ideogram invented by HO for the film Agripina é Roma Manhattan (1972)AGRIPINA É ROMA-MANHATTAN (1972). Direção: Hélio Oiticica. Estados Unidos. 16 min., colorido, mudo., in this same heliofilm, and in the heliotext “Barnbilônia” (1971), accompanied by numerous drawings. When analyzing these experimental works (a film, a text with drawings and an image-ideogram), we see an ethical and aesthetic cohesion among these three contemporary compositions by the same creator. These “inventions” condense essential elements in the author’s life-work, synthesizing aspects of his aesthetic and ideological project. For example, in these works, the author’s vision of the metropolitan decline of empires (past and present) is allegorized, represented as phallic, based on violence and oppression, in contrast with imaginaries of marginality and clandestine rebellion called “subterrânia”.
Keywords:
Hélio Oiticica; New York; Brazilian literature; interartistic studies