Jorge Macchi (b. 1963, Buenos Aires, Argentina) will use the Grant to produce RETOUR, an artist’s book based on texts and objects found in public spaces near his studio. The project seeks to construct meaning from the anonymous messages discovered in the urban fabric, exploring intimacy, memory, and the traces of everyday life in the city through the collection of discarded papers that include: lists of objects, addresses, letter drafts, diary pages, and sketches, materials originally meant to remain private and be thrown away. The final format will include the book itself, six posters, sixteen postcards, and a vinyl record featuring a composition by Edgardo Rudnitzky.

Jorge Macchi is a visual artist whose practice spans multiple media including painting, installation, performance, video, photography, and artist’s books. Through archives, maps, musical scores, press clippings, and urban landscapes, the artist introduces elements of music, literature, and architecture to propose new perspectives on the everyday. In 2001, he received the Guggenheim Fellowship for his Buenos Aires Tour project. He represented Argentina at the Venice Biennale (2005) with La Ascensión, a work created in collaboration with Edgardo Rudnitzky. Three monographic exhibitions of his work have been presented: Perspectiva, MALBA (Buenos Aires, 2016), CA2M (Madrid); Music Stands Still, SMAK (Ghent, 2011); and Anatomy of Melancholy, Santander Cultural (Porto Alegre), Blanton Museum (Austin, 2007), and CGAC (2008). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions and biennials, including the Liverpool Biennial, the Sydney Biennale, and the São Paulo Biennial.