{"id":5197,"date":"2025-10-01T14:27:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T17:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/?page_id=5197"},"modified":"2025-10-14T16:39:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:39:43","slug":"think-piece","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/think-piece\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Think Piece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Mariana Berta. Falar com as m\u00e3os<\/em> (Speak with the hands), 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

the earth is ground, heart to heart<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

M\u00f4nica Hoff<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Se habla lo que se siente<\/em>
[Speak what one feels].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Brus Rubio<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we love the earth, we are able to love ourselves more fully.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

bell hooks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BIXI AWO’TAN<\/em>
[What does your heart say?]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Juan Lopez Intz\u00edn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between one word and another, an abyss. Between one word and another, what is felt and its historicity\u2014the way they acquire valence, temporally or geographically, something changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart: three words, one episteme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smell of fried dough tossed in cinnamon sugar, prepared daily at 3 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Climbing the bookshelf in the living room at my grandmother’s house on Friday nights to get the books from the top shelf. Time spent with textbooks in the library, in the little house in the back, formerly a chicken coop, where I’d escape after lunch. The lemon-bergamot juice that accompanied every autumn, every winter. Why does the sound of the letter A correspond to the shape of the letter A? (Why does) the painter have to paint? Miss, can you tell me more about the sublime, please?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart \u2013 three nouns, five or more memories, a poem, or a piece of land to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lemon- bergamot, galego, clove, caipira, devil, horse, rose, vinegar \u2013 eight names for \u201cthe same thing\u201d, radically different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart or the vestiges of the unpronounceable present in moments that announce more than a memory, reveal a scenario formed by affects, architectures, climates, smells, gestures, landscapes, temporalities, geographies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart: the relationship doesn’t fit into its semantic individualities; what comes into existence the moment one (word) infiltrates the other. More than a dislocation, a translation\u2014by enchantment.One word relating to another, activating in itself, and in the other, what they cannot say alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart. Alone: nouns. Together: community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart: a world-word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart: A, B and C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A resembles B which resembles C. C does not resemble A. \u2013 Wittgenstein might say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the dissimilarity between C and A cause in B, which is similar to both?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the similarity of both with B produce in their dissimilarity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Lituraterra <\/em>\u2013 Lacan might respond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013  Perhaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trembling<\/em>\u2013 Glissant might toast?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Probably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The thought of trembling] is not uncertainty, nor is it fear. It is not something that paralyzes us. [It is] an instinct, an intuition of the world that we cannot reach with imperialist thoughts, with thoughts of domination, with thoughts of a systematic path that leads to a presupposed truth. It is something metaphorical, but also real, concrete.\u201d1<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amuyt’a\u00f1a<\/em>: pensar com el chuyma <\/em>: think with the upper organs: heart, lungs, liver. The body’s thinking in its breathing and rhythm \u2013 present in walking, in a ritual, in dancing, in working the land.2<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBody ground heart\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(like a drum that marks rhythm, counter-beats, cadence, movement)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the trembling that leads us to reject all forms of fixed or imperative thinking, inviting us to find another way of being and not being in the world-system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body \u2013 this great motive of the soul for the Greeks: a great reason: a colony: a product: a territory of defense: a set of forces in constant becoming and relation \u2013 traversed by the insurgency of the ground, dislocated by the epistemologies of the heart<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El corpo es tierra <\/em>[the body is earth], Lorena Cabnal gestures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The earth is ground, bell hooks tells us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heart to heart.3<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add more words to the Portuguese language, Ant\u00f4nio Bispo dos Santos would say, sow seeds that are ours and that are not, transform our minds into farms.4<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing how to \u201cmerge into the most diverse living environments, and take advantage of their accidents,\u201d5<\/strong><\/sup> teaches D\u00e9n\u00e8tem Touan Bona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart: a tangle of vines that obstructs the linear, the rational, the harmonious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body ground heart: \u201ca rugged territory […] suitable for a freedom that is invented in the moment, without provisions and in total ‘opacity.’\u201d<\/em>6<\/strong><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a lekil kuxlejal,<\/em>7<\/sup><\/strong> or a life in fullness, dignity and justice, with the consciousness of community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Being with\/being of8<\/sup><\/strong> the cosmos together with other beings: ch’ulel,9<\/strong><\/sup> <\/em>life in everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Bring the heart back to the cosmos<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As knowledge. As insurrection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like someone dancing, like someone painting, planting, and singing. With a tongue of fire, as Gloria Anzald\u00faa suggests.10<\/sup><\/strong> Driving language mad, pouring their guts out onto paper, like someone choreographing uncontrolled beats, lack of rhythms, dancing the accidental present in the encounter of words-world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poetry \u2013 \u201cthe only thing capable of connecting the concert of the world to the fantasy of the world\u201d, as Glissant tells us.11<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a theater-forum body ground heart rising up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a way of being together:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in helplessness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in poetry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in the street<\/p>\n\n\n\n

on a Wednesday in 1968, on a Sunday in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because neither Brancusi nor any engineer \u201cmanaged to reach the level of precision and polish of the fragile materiality of a chicken\u2019s cloaca.\u201d12<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor the taste of love offered by a lemon- bergamot, galego, clove, caipira, devil, horse, rose, vinegar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because neither poets, politicians, philosophers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>Because the earth is shaking. There are no straight paths anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No place for fixed ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 21, 2025, 2:43 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sky is shaking the order at 29 degrees of chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[It’s too early… or too late.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people are in the streets. The people are in the streets!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guapuruvus, aracu\u00e3s, capuchin monkeys announce storms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the little dog seems to be predicting something since yesterday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

rivers and mountains come together<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it rains, and feet hit the ground hard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for over 500 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earthworms have no peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00f4nica Hoff<\/em><\/strong> is an artist, curator, and researcher. Her PhD in Visual Arts from the State University of Santa Catarina (2019) focused on artist-run art schools and how artistic methodologies become institutional pedagogies and become schools. In her Master’s in History, Theory, and Art Criticism from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (2014), she focused on the phenomenon of the educational turn and the Brazilian art context. In her work in the arts, through various curatorial projects and publications, she investigates the relationships between curatorial, artistic, and educational practices and how these contribute to, conflict with, and\/or determine institutional policies and pedagogies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/strong><\/sup> Edouard Glissant and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Conversas do arquip\u00e9lago<\/em> (Rio de Janeiro: Cobog\u00f3, 2023) 101-102.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2<\/strong><\/sup> Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, Un mundo ch\u2019ixi es posible: Ensayos desde un presente em crisis<\/em> (Buenos Aires: Tinta Lim\u00f3n, 2018) 121-122.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/strong><\/sup> \u201cheart to heart\u201d alludes to the title of the last chapter, in bell hooks. Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope <\/em>(Routledge: New York and London, 2003).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4<\/strong><\/sup> Antonio Bispo dos Santos. A terra d\u00e1, a terra quer<\/em>. S\u00e3o Paulo: UBU\/Piseagrama, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5<\/strong><\/sup> D\u00e9n\u00e8tem Touan Bona, O levante vegetal das zonas de incerteza ofensiva negra<\/em>. Performance conference presented at the Piv\u00f4 Pesquisa Study Program, on June 21, 2023. Accessed September 2025 https:\/\/pivo.org.br\/blog\/o-levante-vegetal-das-zonas-de-incerteza-ofensiva-negra-denetem-touam-bona\/ <\/a>><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6<\/strong><\/sup> Ibid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7<\/strong><\/sup> Juan L\u00f3pez Intz\u00edn. Sp’ijilal O’tan : Knowledge or Epistemology of Coraz\u00f3n. In: Resistant Strategies<\/em>, edited by Marcos Steuernagel and Diana Taylor (Duke University Press and HemiPres , 2019) Accessed September 2025 https:\/\/resistantstrategies.hemi.press\/spijilal-otan-knowledges-or-epistemologies-of-the-heart\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

8<\/sup><\/strong> T.N. The verb \u201cto be\u201d in Portuguese is translated as both \u201cser\u201d and \u201cestar\u201d. The first is used when referring to more permanent or defining characteristics and the second with more temporary conditions or locations. The original text uses both \u201cser\u201d and \u201cestar,\u201d suggesting simultaneously a sense of permanence of being of or from and of being with as a temporary condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9<\/sup><\/strong> Ibid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10<\/sup><\/strong> Gloria Anzaldua, \u201cFalando em l\u00ednguas: uma carta para mulheres escritoras do terceiro mundo\u201d in: A vulva \u00e9 uma ferida aberta & Outros ensaios<\/em> (Rio de Janeiro: A Bolha, 2021) 43-62<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11<\/sup><\/strong> Edouard Glissant and Hans Ulrich Obrist, 94.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12<\/sup><\/strong> Reflection by artist and educator Mariana Berta, January 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the earth is ground, heart to heart M\u00f4nica Hoff Se habla lo que se siente[Speak what one feels]. Brus Rubio When we love the earth, we are able to love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5197\/?lang=en"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/?lang=en"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page\/?lang=en"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1\/?lang=en"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?lang=en&post=5197"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5197\/revisions\/?lang=en"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6266,"href":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5197\/revisions\/6266\/?lang=en"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/institutomesa.org\/revistamesa\/edicoes\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?lang=en&parent=5197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}