This presentation focuses on the relationship between research and artistic creation. What is understood by research in the arts or by practice as research? How is this research being applied in theater? What can practices as research teach about the theory of research in the arts? To answer the first question, we seek to understand the main theories on art research, both international and national. Through these inquiries, we identified a gap in research and creation methodologies. Thus, to answer the second question, we examine the methodologies of two Latin American theater collectives, Tercer Abstracto (Chile/Brazil) and Cía. Buenos Aires Escénica (Argentina), in light of the “Comparative Poetics” of Argentine theater theorist Jorge Dubatti. By studying materials of "explicit thought"—meta-artistic elaborations on the research and creation processes developed by the artists themselves—we seek to identify cross-methodological resources within each collective’s processes. In response to the third question, we compare the methodologies of Tercer Abstracto and Buenos Aires Escénica to identify common elements that could construct methodological perspectives for theatrical practice as research. Finally, identifying the connection between theory and practice as a foundation for this type of investigation, we question the notion of "practice" as research, proposing instead the term: theatrical praxis as research.
Mateus Fávero
University of São Paulo
Mateus Fávero is an actor and dramaturg, artist-researcher, driven by the question: how to research in theater? He is co-director of Tercer Abstracto, a binational program (Chile/Brazil) for research and scenic creation. He holds a bachelor's degree (2017) and a master's degree in Performing Arts (2022) from the University of São Paulo, with the thesis: From Question to Scene: Methodological Perspectives for Theatrical Practice as Research. He specialized in Scenic Research-Creation (2021) at UNAM (Mexico). Currently, he is a FAPESP fellow conducting his doctoral research, Staging of Research.