Abstract:
This dissertation investigates contemporary artistic practice through a case study focused on the work of visual artist Busca. It is a theoretical-poetic research constructed through interviews, artist’s writings, process documents, and artwork analyses, articulating these materials as legitimate forms of knowledge production. The work is grounded in the hypothesis that the artist’s first-person voice constitutes a relevant epistemic approach within the field of art, capable of generating critical reflection and challenging traditional modes of academic validation. The structure of the dissertation proposes a play between different voices—that of the artist, other Brazilian creators, and the researcher—producing zones of contact between narrative, image, and thought. The methodological procedures adopt attentive listening as a starting point, shifting the focus from interpretation to dialogue, and from theoretical translation to the expansion of poetics. The research traverses themes such as precarity, symbolic economy, gesture, and deviation, engaging with works that deal with everyday life, humor, and the materiality of language. The analysis highlights how Busca’s work formulates a critique of the devices that regulate the production and circulation of art. Ultimately, the study reaffirms the potential of artist’s writings as a form of situated, embodied thinking that is inseparable from artistic making, proposing a research approach that operates between theory and practice, without hierarchies.
