<nettime> Poetic Insurgencies: Activist Art and Collective Action

["andre mesquita" <andrelmesquita@gmail.com>]

Dear Friends

I think most of you will remember me as the person who contacted you asking
for an interview for a research project I was then developing. Between 2005
and 2007 I carried out 49 interviews, some of which were with you. I have
also relied on email exchanges, the occasional presential meeting and other
conversations we have had along the process. So all of this work, alongside
vast documentation based on critical texts, manifestos, photographs and
videos, has resulted in my Masters dissertation titled "Insurg?ncias
Po?ticas: Arte Ativista e A??o Coletiva (19990-2000) ? *"Poetic
Insurgencies: Activist Art and Collective Action (1990-2000)"* ?, written at
the History Department of Sao Paulo University (FFLCH-USP), Brazil.

I`ve been through my viva examination in September 2008 and was pleased with
the positive response. I too was happy with my attempt to better understand
the debate about the relationships between artistic collectivism and
activism, as well as the attempt to produce a critical analysis on such
initiatives. It is not a clich? to say that this work has been possible at
all only thanks to all the learning and collaboration originating from each
one of you, in Brazil and abroad, from all the interviews, from our
conversations, from the friendship, from the e-mails in our discussion
lists, from the footnotes from the bibliographical indications, the classes,
the meetings, the protests, the interventions, the occupied house.... There
have been so many opportunities that I can only extend my heartful thanks to
all for the help in the construction of so extensive a research, with so
many references and details provided by your generous help.

There is a printed version of the dissertation in S?o Paulo University
library, but you may also find a digital copy of the text at the
University`s website. In order to do so, please access the address:
http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8138/tde-03122008-163436 and
search for the file named *dissertacao_Andre_Mesquita.pdf* (15.11 Mb). See
also on the website the abstract of the work in English. Please feel free to
publicize this text. As you will no doubt find out, the dissertation is
still in its original Portuguese version. The good news is that the
dissertation should be published in book form by a Brazilian publisher in
2009!

Along the course of the year, I shall strive to bring out a bilingual
(Portuguese-English) version, and, who knows, have it published abroad. I
have enormous interest in having the third chapter of this text, where I
refer to art collectives in Brazil, translated into English. Another part of
the material should soon be published, I hope in bilingual form, on the site
I edit, *Rizoma* (www.rizoma.net).

So I thank each of you all a lot for the contribution to this work and I
hope to meet you in some future project!

Best,

Andre Mesquita.


#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime>  is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org