Mediated, mitigated, liberated: Hélio Oiticica’s participatory art and the reinvention of the public

Abstract

This dissertation studies the complex and contentious relationship between Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980) and his public. This relationship is important because Oiticica was one of the first proponents of participatory art from 1964 onwards until the end of his life in 1980. Based on extensive archival research, this dissertation investigates the technicalities of participation (i.e where, when and how it historically happened), as well as the influence the artist tried to exert over his public’s participation, either directly by being on site during his own exhibitions, or indirectly through the mass media, the photographs and texts he circulated about his work in a bid to build a certain reputation around them. The dissertation also focuses on failure - the public’s misunderstanding or misuse of his works - as the main driver behind the evolution of Oiticica’s life and work. The dissertation is split between three chapters and covers the period 1964-1968 in Rio de Janeiro, the 1969 Whitechapel Exhibition and the period between 1970-1980 in New York and back to Rio de Janeiro for the last two years of his life.