ROBERTO JACOBY, b. 1944, Buenos Aires.

A conceptual artist and sociologist, he formulated “dematerialized art” in manifestos and works produced from 1966 to 1968. He created a number of works whose “materiality” was strictly social (the mass media and different communications structures in the urban environment). Mensaje en el Di Tella (Message in the Di Tella 1968) envisioned art as the “design of new life forms.” After participating in Tucumán Arde (1968) and the magazine Sobre, he began research on social conflict and political epistemology. He composed over fifty songs for the rock band Virus and other artists; he organized shows and multimedia parties in neighborhood clubs and the Club Eros. In the nineties, he and Mariana “Kiwi” Sainz created the Fabulous Nobodies, a product-less brand that carried out the anti-discrimination campaign Yo tengo sida (I Have AIDS, 1994). In 1998, he developed a network of artists and non-artists designed in the form of the self-managed databank Bola de Nieve. Other projects from the late nineties include Chacra99, an artists’ residency and laboratory; the magazine Ramona; the microsociety Venus; and the sessions of Sociedades Experimentales at the Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas. He and Jorge Di Paola wrote the novel Moncada (2003) and the booklet Orgía (1990). His first solo show, No soy un clown, was held in 2001 at Belleza y Felicidad in Buenos Aires. The following year, Darkroom, a performance for infrared rays and a single viewer, was held at that same gallery. In 2004, he presented Culísimo (Ass-ism), an experiment on prisons as language factories. In 2005, an expanded version of Darkroom was produced for MALBA, and in 2006 Darkroom 3, a sound installation, was featured at the Pontevedra Biennial. In 2006 and 2007, in the framework of an experiment with Syd Krochmalny, he produced La Castidad (Chastity), a video-installation; the Technologies and Friendship banquettes; and other actions. In 2008, the show 1968, el culo te abrocho was held at Appetite gallery in Buenos Aires. He produced a series of tragicomic videos in gaucho-like setting available on Youtube. He presented his operation Arte, la inversión segura (Art: A Safe Investment) at Ruth Benzacar gallery, along with the project Donaciones (Donations) produced with Fernanda Laguna. In 2010, he developed the collective work Brigada Argentina por Dilma (Argentine Brigade for Dilma) at the 29^th São Paulo Biennial. In 2011, a retrospective exhibition of his work entitled Roberto Jacoby. El deseo nace del derrumbe was held at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. In 2014, Diarios del odio, a joint show with Syd Krochmalny, was held at the Casa de la Cultura of the Fondo Nacional de las Artes in Buenos Aires.

For further information: http://archivosenuso.org/jacoby/cronologico