Art and Politics of Friendship

To R.J.

Between August 2006 and July 2007, artist and sociologist Roberto Jacoby (Buenos Aires, 1994) and I developed quite a singular experiment in aesthetical-political subjectivation. It was a radical questioning of the boundaries between art and life, a crucial issue for the twentieth century avant-garde movements. On the foundations of friendship, we designed a contract of cohabitation, artistic, reflexive and formative collaboration, and shared our resources and skills.

The model of “Platonic love” (an affective and pedagogical relationship between two persons of the same gender separated by a wide generation gap, without any form of bodily interpenetration) was at the foundation of this pact. This kind of relationship is virtually nonexistent in present Western societies even though, paradoxically, it constitutes the very starting point of their philosophical tradition.

This project will explore issues related to the aesthetic dimensions of the peculiar way of life we led, including some of the pieces we produced during this time that deal with tension between art and life, forms of representation, ocularcentrism, technologies of friendship and sexuality.

Syd Krochmalny

full text in spanish