Bureau/Division/Agency

Library

Download

Download Full Text (1.2 MB)

Document Type

Text

Broad Creation Date

2025

Language

English

Location

Portland

Abstract

This dissertation is an investigation of the combat sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) as both works of art and as philosophical processes for both fighters (the artists) and the spectators (the audience), an operation that inevitably leads to the disclosure of being. Using the anatomization’s of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, the taxonomies of Roger Caillois, Friedrich Nietzsche’s notions on drama and animality, along with Martin Heidegger’s ontological confrontations with metaphysical forces, the inquiry aims to describe and extract some of the art- philosophy contained within MMA fight-works by investigating various principles, factors, and dynamics that become the constituting elements to the creation of form and meaning. The dissertation situates MMA within the context of a larger discourse in theater studies that aims to identify and describe the elements that distinguish this unique form of performance. This contextualization additionally clarifies the interdisciplinary nature of MMA and highlights the features which do not deny its athletic foundation but distinguish it from other sports and places it more accurately within the fine arts as embodied thought.

Disciplines

Art Practice | Philosophy

Publisher

Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts

City

Portland ME

THÉATRO AGÓNA: THE GENERATIVE DRAMAS OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS



Share

COinS
 

Rights Statement

Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).