The Aesthetics of Invasion

Abstract

This article critiques and considers how ‘differentiated bodies’ take over the performance scene as a form of aesthetic invasion – an insurgent participatory act and insubordinate presence. Brazilian performer and researcher Felipe Monteiro coined the term ‘differentiated bodies’ in 2013 to designate people with some type of disability in a non-stigmatizing way and actualize a politics of care in that respect. Faced with the discrimination that still persists in the performing arts in Brazil against disabled artists, Monteiro reads his performances as incursions – unwelcome intrusions – in the performance space. Physical and cognitive disabilities are part of many people’s lives. They are the existential marks some performers carry with them and emphasize through their art practices to counteract cultural body standards. Performance works by Monteiro drive the argument to claim space for difference and diversity against assistentialist, protectionist and pseudo-inclusive approaches that prescribe and perpetuate stigmas. From Monteiro’s perspective, performers with differentiated bodies echo Antonin Artaud’s ideas in his Theatre of Cruelty: they become actual outbreaks and provoke the spectator to ponder upon human finitude.