Fabulous Nobodies (Roberto Jacoby y Mariana Kiwi Sainz)

Yo tengo sida

T-shirt with silkscreen.
1994

Documentation and Archive area, National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires.

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Fabulous Nobodies (Roberto Jacoby y Mariana Kiwi Sainz), Yo tengo sida, 1994, remera con serigrafía. Área de Documentación y Registro, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires.
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FABULOUS NOBODIES was a fictional advertisement agency created by artist and sociologist Roberto Jacoby (Buenos Aires, 1944) and Mariana “Kiwi” Sainz (Buenos Aires, 1967). Between 1992 and 1994, Fabulous Nobodies and its advertisements for nonexistent businesses supposedly headquartered in world capitals participated in a number of art events. Jacoby would make an appearance in a tuxedo while Sainz would be wearing an outfit—especially designed for her by Rojas artist Omar Schiliro—made out of plastic buckets and basins, and glass teardrops. In 1993, they collaborated with artist Liliana Maresca on the Maresca se entrega a todo destino (Maresca: Available for any use) published in the erotic magazine El Libertino. That ad shows Maresca, partly undressed, next to her phone number. A number of prominent members of the Buenos Aires alternative art scene worked on the Maresca project: Alejandro Kuropatwa took the photograph; Sergio de Loof did the styling; and Sergio Avello did the makeup.

Fabulous Nobodies launched the Yo Tengo SIDA (I have AIDS) campaign in 1994. It consisted of red, green, and blue t-shirts in all sizes with the campaign’s slogan printed on them.  The project was initially sponsored by Huesped Foundation, a non-profit organization for HIV counseling and activism, but it was eventually able to finance itself through the sale of the t-shirts. Jacoby, Sainz, and their friends and customers wore the garments around Buenos Aires. Fabulous Nobodies was in contact with Act-Up (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) in New York in order to coordinate efforts. Andres Calamaro, an Argentine rock star, wore the t-shirt at a major concert. The garments, featured in exhibitions in 1994 and 1995, currently form part of the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires and MALI in Lima, Peru.

Further info: http://www.archivosenuso.org/jacoby/cronologico#viewer=/viewer/968%3Fas_overlay%3Dtrue&js= https://www.bellasartes.gob.ar/coleccion/obra/11983/

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