Thresholds of Desire. Skin, Mediation, and Performance in Hudinilson Jr.

This essay investigates the pivotal role of skin in the work of Brazilian artist Hudinilson Jr. (1957-2013), positioning it as a threshold of desire and resistan-ce. It examines how skin functions as a medium of haptic mediation and queer singularization in Hudinilson Jr.’s practice, with particular attention to the interplay between xerox-based reproduction and the live performance Pugnar Radical (1984). Through close readings of key xerox actions and this performance, the essay reveals how skin operates as a complex interface where exposure, longing, and vulnerability intersect: an embodied site of engagement – crossed, abstracted, and reified. Hudinilson Jr.’s xerox actions serve as a prelude to this exploration; through fragmentation and mechanical reproduction, they turn the body upside down, transforming the skin into a resonant surface that reflects the tensions between identity and otherness, image and flesh. In Pugnar Radical, these tensions are brought to life in a visceral live performance that exposes the body to scrutiny and pain, high-lighting how skin bears the marks of trauma and eroticism. Drawing on José Esteban Muñoz’s concept of disidentification, the essay situates Hudinilson Jr.’s practice within a broader framework of resistance, indicating how skin acts as a medium of subversion against normative frameworks that seek to constrain and define the body. By mediating between visibility and invisibility, touch and separation, Hudinilson Jr.’s work navigates the skin as an aesthetic threshold of negotiation, interrogating the unresolved spaces of desire.