Mujica was born in
Avellaneda, a neighborhood near the city of
Buenos Aires, to an anarchist syndicalist father.[3] As his father became blind after a work accident when Mujica was only thirteen years of age, he began to work in a glass factory, continuing with high school at night school. At the same time he pursued studies in Fine Arts. Amidst the fervour of the sixties he settled in Greenwich Village, New York. There he began to study philosophy at the experimental
Free University of New York, and resumed painting at
School of Visual Arts. He was an active painter until the final years of the sixties when, following his own account, 'painting left me'.
He briefly experimented with marijuana and LSD, part of the scene in those days. He briefly met
Ralph Metzner, who helped to publish one of his drawings. He was irreligious most of his young years, but that changed with his encounter with
Swami Satchidananda. He converted to Catholicism when contemplating monastic life. During a trip along with Satchidananda, only a week after the festival, he became acquainted with the monastic life of the Trappist monastery.[4] Joining shortly thereafter, he lived under vow of silence for seven years.[5] He travelled to a French monastery of the same order. He began to write poetry during his time of monastic asceticism, after three years of having joined the order.
He visited
Mount Athos, Greece, to experience the way of the Eastern
Hesychast tradition. He travelled to Europe one more time, and having returned to Argentina finally settled down. He spent a year in solitude in a countryside located in General Alvear, where he wrote his biography only to put it in the trash. He later came back to the city of Buenos Aires, joined seminary and in little time he became a priest. He studied theology and philosophical anthropology. After a few years of officiating at a parish, he left momentarily his priestly vocation and turned to writing in its entirety, along with lecturing abroad and engaging in poetic festivals.
He participated in a TV debate with
Gilles Lipovetsky, along with
Juan José Sebreli, criticizing the complacency of the French philosopher regarding market economy.[6]
2008 Pesmi. Ed. Kud, Eslovenia. (Poetry anthology).
2008 Poesie scelte. Raffaelli Editore, Italia. (Poetry anthology).
2008 What the embrace embraces. Coimbra Editions, USA. (Poetry anthology).
2000 Notte aperta. Antonio Pellicani Editore, Italia. (Poetry).
Music scripts
Nuit aveugle. Opéra de chambre. Santiago Diez Fisher. Francia.
Nadie. Voz y electrónica. Daniel Hugo Sprintz. Promúsica. España.
Noches adentro. 3 canciones para voz y piano. Daniel Hugo Sprintz. España.
Azot, Para recitante, coro, 9 músicos y electroacústica. Daniel Hugo Sprintz. España.
Vision du ‘Paradis vide’. Daniel Hugo Sprintz, Francia.
Paraíso vacío. 6 Paisajes musicales sobre poemas de Hugo Mujica. Pedro Aznar. Argentina.
Concertino. Fabián Panisello. España.
Poemas de Hugo Mujica. Para soprano, contralto, tenor y trios de cuerdas. Fabian Panisello. España.
On his work
2012 Lengua del silencio: entre Mujica y Heidegger. Lucas Andino. Ed. Académica, España.
2012 Orfismo y errancia: la escritura y los elementos en la poesía de Hugo Mujica. Martín Cerisola. Ed. Académica, España.
2012 Hacia lejanas honduras del silencio y la palabra en la poesía de Hugo Mujica. Catalina Chamorro Villalobos. Ed. Académica, España.
2007 El ‘Ya pero todavía no’ en la poesía de Hugo Mujica. Ana María Rodriguez Francia. Ed. Biblos, Argentina.
1997 Hugo Mujica. Ana Emilia Lahitte. Ed. Vinciguerra, Argentina.
Unedited material on his work
2016. Hugo Mujica: pensar poético. Juan Esteban Londoño Betancour. Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia.
2015. Los símbolos del desasimiento en la poesía de Hugo Mujica. María Leonor Gavito. Universidad de Jaén, España.
2015. La obra poética de Sergio Mondragón y Hugo Mujica: una mística abierta. Rafael Eduardo García González. Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, México.
2015. La poética del abandono divino en Hugo Mujica y su confluencia con Oriente. Carlos Andrés Sanchez Arismendy. Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia.
2014. “Lo abierto calla” El silencio en las imágenes poéticas del límite de Hugo Mujica. Javier Helgueta Manso. Universidad de Salamanca, España.
2012. Pensamiento filosófico y experiencias religiosas en la poesía argentina contemporánea. (Hugo Mujica, Héctor Viel Temperley, Hugo Padeletti, Oscar del Barco). María Gabriela Milone. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.
2005. Sonata de viloncelo y lilas de Hugo Mujica. Una poética de la intemperie. Roberto Daniel Riccardo. Universidad Católica Argentina.