Pele como suporte, sangue como tinta

: um estudo sobre o embodiment num exercício de animação experimental

Abstract

This research aims to comprehend some of the ways through which the spectatorial relationship is present in works of experimental animation, focusing on haptic perception. The investigation was executed in different phases and approaches, namely two conversations and the moment when a bodily intervention was made through a technique called bloodline (tattooing without ink). All of those processes were recorded through visual and sound capture and later edited into an animated experiment as an attempt to translate the subjects brought by the conversations into a multisensory experience. In spite of being an artistic practice that traditionally privileges vision and audition, animation as a medium also affects all of the other senses of each spectator in a synesthetic way, activating and relating to the bodily memories they carry. The experimental field of animation, usually having explicit material qualities and valuing sensory stimulation in its practice (Taberham, 2019: 24), allows a reading of the spectator’s body as a third constituent element of the work. In this way, the body is perceived not only as a producer of meaning and experience, but also as a means through which the artistic work is sensorially concretized. At some level, this mode of action in the experimental practice reconnects the division between body and mind that emerged from the rise of Cartesian and Illuminist philosophies. These currents were responsible for carrying out a dualistic rupture in human perception. Despite the rootedness of this type of thinking in society, some phenomenological and embodiment theories understand how the human being relates in a corporeal way not only with any event that happens to them, but also with artistic works. Embodiment applied to moving image practice was extensively studied by authors such as Laura Marks, Jennifer Barker and Vivian Sobchack, responsible for stimulating an integrated reading of spectatorship in audio-visual works. In recognizing the presence of the body in the act of vision, the theories that comprehend that visuality is embodied produce a notion that the senses and the intellect act together. Consequently, a return to the body as an indivisible surface of communication and complex source of perception is promoted, seeing the cinema as a type of contact, an encounter with the other (Elsaesser & Hagener, 2010: 110). Considering these perspectives, the research questions that guide this investigation are the following: how can embodiment in experimental animation affect its relationship with its viewers? Does using skin and blood as artistic materials create a haptic relationship with the spectator-participant? Is the appreciation and application of bodily knowledge in a creative work capable of motivating a horizontalization in the relationships created within art? How can corporeality help construct knowledge with and from the other?

Date of Award	7 Dec 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Sahra Kunz (Supervisor) & Ekaterina Cordas (Co-Supervisor)