The gravedigger as an experimental device between the white cube and the dark room
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33871/21750769.2026.22.1.12017Keywords:
The Gravedigger, Total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk), Artistic languages, Experimental, Contemporary dramaturgyAbstract
The play O Coveiro (2025), conceived by playwright Fernando Proença, updates the concept of the 'total work of art' by dissolving the boundaries between theater, visual arts, and cinema. By integrating museological and scenic elements within the same territory, the performance transcends the narrative of representation to institute an experience in act. Within this artistic-reflective memorial, grounded in the conceptions of Hélio Oiticica (1986), Ronaldo Brito (1980), Maurice Blanchot (2011) and Gilles Deleuze (2015), the piece is established as an experimental exercise and an act of symbolic insurgency. It establishes a horizontality between languages, transforming the spectator into a vital element of composition and subverting the modern paradigms of both the 'white cube' museum and the 'dark room' of cinema and theater.
Keywords: The Gravedigger; Total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk); artistic languages; Experimental; contemporary dramaturgy.
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