Artistic discourse on the subway: unusual senses for subjects in transit

Abstract

This work presents an analysis of the discourse of artistic dissemination in stations on the “green line” (linha verde) of the São Paulo subway, in the region of Avenida Paulista. Based on institutional texts, on-site observations, photographic records and simulations from the perspective of passers-by, the discourse on art on the subway is made explicit. Art dissemination panels on the platform are analyzed, as well as subjects in transit. The theoretical perspective is that of Discourse Analysis, especially discursive studies about the city (ORLANDI [Org.], 2001a; ORLANDI, 2004, 2017) and studies of expographic texts (RIGAT, 2015). The stations are conceived as spaces of interpretation, sites of meaning (ORLANDI, 2004). We also observe the relationships between subjects and city spaces, in the tension between the real of the city and its institutional organization. The analyzes show different meanings linked to the transition spaces of the stations, according to the subjects' positions in relation to the works of art, inside the train and on the station platform.