Jaime Davidovich is known as an artist whose innovative and multi-dimensional artworks and art-making activities produced several distinct professional reputations including painter, installation artist, video artist, public access television producer, activist, and non-profit organizer. Like his artwork, Davidovich's career challenges the boundaries of any one professional identity. His professional career demonstrates a desire to expand the formal boundaries of art practice and the public forums for art exhibition.

Jaime Davidovich was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1936. Educated at the National College in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the University of Uruguay; and the School of Visual Arts in New York, Jaime Davidovich has exhibited widely at museums in New York, Ohio, and Iowa, and internationally in Iran, Spain, Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Italy, France, and Germany. Jaime Davidovich currently resides in New York.

Davidovich began exhibiting his paintings professionally in 1958 in Argentina, Brazil, and the United States. Interested in space and texture, he experimented with the boundaries of visual artworks first by dissolving the structure of the painting's frame by affixing canvas to walls and then by installing works directly on walls, floors, stairways, and sidewalks. Adhesive tape came to figure prominently in Davidovich's work, initially as a means to affix canvas to walls and subsequently as an artistic medium itself.

The emergence of portable video equipment in the late 1960s dovetailed with Davidovich's existing interest in minimalism and the aesthetics of line. Davidovich's single channel video works "Road" in 1972 and "3 Mercer Street" in 1975 are some of his earliest video art explorations. These works are noteworthy because of their institutional backing; "Road" was produced with the assistance of the Akron Art Institute in Ohio and "3 Mercer Street" was made possible by a grant from the Creative Arts Public Service (CAPS) program. Davidovich then went on to create video installations, including his "Evita" works that developed between 1984-1992 and "Inside and Between" a 1996 work shown at the Museo del Barrio in New York City.

When cable television emerged in the mid-1970's, Jaime Davidovich was one of the first artists to recognize its potential for the contemporary arts. In 1976 he helped establish Cable SoHo. A year later he established the Artists Television Network, a nonprofit organization established to explore the artistic potential of broadcast television and encourage the dissemination of video art through a commercial broadcast medium. The organization produced television programming under the name SoHo Television, a Project of the Artists Television Network, and broadcast on Manhattan Public Access Cable. Programming included video art, early music videos, performances and interviews with artists including Laurie Anderson, John Cage, and Richard Foreman among many others. The organization produced programming until 1984.

Davidovich is perhaps best known for his work on The Live! Show, a weekly public access television program with a variety show format that appropriated the formal norms of television along with avant-garde performances, artwork, political satire, and social commentary. Davidovich developed the character Dr. Videovich, a psychologist and specialist in television addiction. The show also featured commercials for Videokitsch, commercially produced items and art multiples made by Davidovich and others. In 1991 the American Museum of the Moving Image presented a retrospective of The Live! Show. In 2007 the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Spain added The Live! Show to its collection of video art.

Selected Exhibitions

1971

"Jaime Davidovich's 'Carroll Wall Project'", John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio

"Experiments in Art and Technology", B.K. Smith Gallery, Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio

"Iberamerican Celebration", Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa

"11 From E.A.T.", John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio

1972

"Six Artists", Akron Art Institute, Akron, Ohio

"Master Drawings and Works on Paper", The New Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio

"Five Artists", The New Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio

"Hacia un Perfil del Arte Latino Americano", Pamplona, Spain

"Arte de Sistemas", Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenes Aires; Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile

1973

"Railroad Bridge Project", The New Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio

Biennial Exhibition", Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Bykert Gallery, New York

1974

"Open Circuit" Video Show, Museum of Modern Art, New York

"Kunst Systemen in America - Centrum", Antwerpen, Belgium

"Latin American Week in London", Institute of Contemporary Arts, London

Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium

Museum of Modern Art, Antwerp, Belgium

1975

"Art of the Seventies", Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina

"Fourth International Open Encounter on Video", CAYC, Buenos Aires, Argentina

"Encounter of Video Tape", Museum of Art, Ferrara, Italy

"Art Today USA", Teheran, Iran

"International Encounter of Video Tapes", Espace, Pierre Cardin, Paris

Video Performance, 3 Mercer Street Store, New York

"Video Tapes", New Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio

1976

"Jaime Davidovich: Video Tapes", Anthology Film Archives, New York

"Jaime Davidovich Video VII", Museum of Modern Art, New York

"New York - Downtown Manhattan - Soho - Academie de Kunst", Berlin

"The New American Filmmakers Series", Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

"Baseboard", The Kitchen, New York

Arnot Museum, Elmira, New York

1977

"Artists Make Television", Anthology Film Archives, New York

"Soho Television", The Kitchen, New York

"Adhesive Tape/Video Installation", Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

"Outdoor Environmental Art", The New Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio

"Art of the Seventies", Fundacion Miro, Barcelona

"New York Artists", Louisiana Museum, Denmark

"8th International Video Art Festival", Continental Gallery, Lima, Peru

1978

"Jaime Davidovich 'Art Turns on Television'", Coroborree, New York

"Soho Television", The Kitchen, New York

"Video - Entre L'Art ila Comunicacio - Series Informatives 1", Col-legi D'Arquitectes de Catalunya, Institut Alemany de Barcelona, Barcelona

1979

"Intermedia", Corroboree Gallery, Iowa State University, Iowa City (Catalogue)

"Soho TV Presents", Long Beach Museum of Art

1980

"Shock Opera", Youthinasia, Hurrah, New York

"Visual Arts Conference", University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls

"Video - Informative Series 2", Collegi D'Arquitectes de Catalunya, Institut Alemany de Barcelona, Barcelona

"Jaime Davidovich", Stichting Agora, Nederland

Agora Studio, Maastrich, Holland

1981

"Video/Behavior/Art", Institut D'Estudis Nord-Americans, Barcelona (Catalogue)

Long Beach Museum of Art, Los Angeles

"Video", University Art Museum, Berkley, California

"Alternatives in Retrospect", The New Museum, New York (Catalogue)

1982

"The Artist and Television", The University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, UCLA College of Fine Arts, Long Beach Museum of Art, NYU College of Arts

"The Live! Show", MCTV, New York

Chicago Editing Center, Chicago

"Athens International Film/Video Festival", Athens Center for Film and Video, Ohio University College of Fine Arts (Catalogue)

"Videodagen", Fodor, Amsterdam (Catalogue)

Video and Television Festival, Maastrich, Holland

"Festival de Video", Center for Media Art, American Center, Paris

"Kijkschrift een Uitgave Van Het Kijkhuis", Kijkhuis World Wide Video Festival, Nederland (Catalogue)

"New Images/New Languages", Toulouse, France

1983

"Video/ Jaime Davidovich", Hallways, Buffalo, New York

"Television!", Group Installation at the Windows at 62 White Street, New York

"Watching Television - A Video Event", School of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Wake Up", Artists in Residence Series of the Chicago Editing Center

"Video/Culture", Harbourfront

"17 Bienal de Sao Paulo", Brazil (Catalogue)

"TV USA 1983", Institute of American Studies, Barcelona, Spain (Catalogue)

1984

"Cleveland Revisited", The New Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio (Catalogue)

"TV on TV", Texas Tech University

"Global Village 10th Annual Documentary Festival", New York (Catalogue)

"So There, Orwell - 1984 - A Video Review", The Louisiana World Exposition (Catalogue)

"Video: A Retrospective", Long Beach Museum of Art

"World Wide Video Festival 84", Kijkhuis, Nederland (Catalogue)

"From TV to Video", l'immagine elettronica, Bologna (Catalogue)

"1 Bienal de la Habana", Pabellon Cuba Museo Nacional, La Habana, Cuba (Catalogue)

"Salso Film and TV Festival", Assessorato Alla Cultura del Comune di Parma, Parma

1985

"Artists Talk Back to the Media", Holland

"Utah Arts Festival 1985", Triad Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Catalogue)

"Famous for 30 Seconds - Artists in the Media", Artists Space, New York (Catalogue)

1986

"Television's Impact on Contemporary Art", The Queens Museum, New York

"Artists' Television Project", The University of Iowa, Iowa City

"Transcultural/Transmedia", Exit Art, New York

"Computer Culture Days Linz", ORF - Videonale/New Images for a New Age, ARS Electronica, Austria

1988

"Jaime Davidovich", Diane Brown Gallery, New York (Catalogue)

"Crossing Over: Video, Criticism, Theory", The Corroboree + Multimedia Studios, School of Art and Art History, The University of Iowa, Iowa City

"1988 National Latino Film and Video Festival", El Museo del Barrio, New York

"San Antonio Film and Video Festival", San Antonio

1989

"Image World - Art and Media Culture", Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Catalogue)

"Pervasive Symbiosis - Ten Argentine-New York Artists", La Agencia, New York

1989-90

"The Live! Show Retrospective", American Museum of the Moving Image, New York (Catalogue)

"The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States, 1920- 1970", The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York (Catalogue)

1990

"Jaime Davidovich - Contexto Transcultural Video-Instalaciones", ICI de Buenos Aires, Argentina

"Ideas and Images from Argentina", The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York

"Video Arte Internacional", Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Asociacion Argentina de Criticos de Arte, Instituto de Cooperacion Ibero Americana, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Catalogue)

"Image World: Metamedia", Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

"The Decade Show - Frameworks of Identity in the 1980's", Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art; The New Museum of Contemporary Art; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (Catalogue)

1991

"Forces/Farces", Exit Art, New York

1992

"Los Pueblos Quieren Saber de que se Trata", Video Installation, Fundacion Banco Patricios, Buenos Aires, Argentina

"Americas", Monasterio de Santa Clara, Moguer (Huelva) (Catalogue)

"Uncommon Ground", College Art Gallery, SUNY New Paltz, New York (Catalogue)

"Democracy in Communication", International Media Resource Exchange (Catalogue)

1993

"Buenos Aires Video", ICI de Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Catalogue)

"Festival on tactical television", Paradiso Amsterdam (Next 5 Minutes Video Catalogue)

1994

"Lo Falso, Lo Virtual, Lo Real", ICI de Buenos Aires, Argentina

"Scars, Pleasure + Sacrifice", Argentina, Colombia Video Creation, Colombian Center and Consulate General of Argentina, New York

"Ver Y Estimar", Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenes Aires, Argentina (Catalogue)

"Recordando el Futuro", Colombian Mission, New York

1995

"The Promised Land", Installation, ICI de Buenos Aires, Argentina

"El Museo del Barrio Twenty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition- Part III- Reaffirming Spirituality", El Museo del Barrio, New York

1997

"Legacy/Legado", The Old State House, Hartford, Connecticut (Catalogue)

1998

"Zocalo" 1975-1998, Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires,Argentina

1999

"Paintings in Real Time", Lehman College Art Gallery, New York

2000

"The End" An 18-year history of Exit Art",Exit Art, New York

2002

"EXO" Kleinert Arts Center, Woodstock, New York

2003

"View from Above" Deep Listening Center, Kingston, New York

"Paintings in Real Time" Museo de Arte Moderno Buenos Aires, Argentina

2004

"Jaime Davidovich Video Works 1970-2000" The Phatory Gallery, New York (Catalogue)

"Imaging the River" The Hudson River Museum, New York

"Ultravideoform" Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York

2005

"Odd Lots" Revisiting Gordon Matta Clark's Fake Estates. White Columns/ Queens Museum of Art". New York

Pioneros de video arte "Peter Campus-Jaime Davidovich" Galeria Senda. Barcelona. Spain

"Jaime Davidovich" VanGuardia, Bilbao, Spain

2006

"Primera Generacion. Arte e Imagen en Movimiento" Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia. Madrid. Spain

"The studio visit". Exit Art. New York

2007

Monografia. Stand By TV. La Caixa. Barcelona. Spain

The Jaime Davidovich Collection contains materials pertaining to his career as a visual artist, public access television producer, activist, and non-profit organizer. Materials include: correspondence, clippings, drawings and sketches, exhibition catalogs, videotapes, and objects and artifacts such as Fluxus multiples, television-shaped objects, and a Sony color Portapak. Materials are in English and Spanish. The collection is organized into seven series in 26 boxes. Series and subseries reflect Davidovich's areas of interest. Materials are in English and in Spanish.

Series I: Jaime Davidovich Artist Files.This series contains materials related to Jaime Davidovich's professional art career. The series is divided into eleven subseries. Subseries A: Project proposalsincludes descriptions, abstracts, and proposals for artworks. Subseries B: Production Materialscontains notes, preliminary research on sites, photo-documentation of finished projects. Subseries C: Works on Paper, incorporates completed works on paper by Jaime Davidovich. Subseries D: Exhibition catalogues and Press, includes catalogues, press releases, publicity, and press for exhibitions featuring Jaime Davidovich's work. Subseries E: Correspondence, incorporates letters, faxes, emails, and telegrams from and to Jaime Davidovich. Subseries F: Publications written by Jaime Davidovichincludes essays as well as published visual works. Subseries G: Publications designed by Jaime Davidovich, contains mockups and design proofs for magazines, books, and publicity materials. Subseries H: Teaching and Presentations, includes photographs, notes, and other materials connected to teaching, conferences, and other public presentations. Subseries I: Photographs of Jaime Davidovich, includes artist portraits, video stills, and candid photography. Subseries J: Press, Interviews, and Essays about Jaime Davidovichcontains writing that is not connected to a particular exhibit.

Series II: Artists' TV Networkcontains materials realting to the organization and programming of the network and is divided into five subseries. Subseries A: ATN publicityincludes promotional materials such as posters and brochures, and press. Subseries B: Documentation of Organizational Activityincludes materials such as photographs, distribution catalogues, and conference proceedings. Subseries C: TV Magazineincludes materials related to the production of the magazine such as mock-ups. Subseries D: Correspondenceincludes collected correspondence organized alphabetically by organization, event, or recipient. Subseries E: Organizational Materials includes contracts, grant materials, and other documents relevant to the organization's functioning. Subseries F: Financial Materialsincludes bank statements, ledgers, and tax information concerning the Artists Television Network.

Series III: The Live! Showincludes materials relating to the production, promotion, and exhibition of The Live! Show. It is divided into six subseries. Subseries A: Production Materialsincludes notes, sketches and other materials connected to the production of the Live! Show. Subseries B: Design, includes promotional materials for the Live! Show designed by Jaime Davidovich. Subseries C: Photographscontains photographic documentation of The Live! Show. Subseries D: Press and Publicitycontains posters, invitations, and press materials related to The Live! Show. Subseries E: Exhibition and Distribution Catalogsincludes materials connected to museum exhibitions and commercial distribution of The Live! Show. Subseries F: Correspondenceincludes letters and written inquries.

Series IV: Video recordingsincludes DVD access copies of the original videorecordings acquired as part of the collection.

Series V: Artifacts and Objectsincludes material artifacts collected by Jaime Davidovich. It is divided into four subseries. Subseries A: Fluxuscontains a number of artifacts designed by Fluxus artists including boxes, wall paper, and stationery. Subseries B: Television Collectionincludes television shaped or themed artifacts including clothing, children's toys, and novelty items. Subseries C: ATN and The Live! Showincludes objects connected to the production or administration of these media projects including Dr. Videovich's lab coat, an ATN seal paper embosser. Subseries D: Portapakincludes Jaime Davidovich's Sony color portapak camera, deck, battery charger, and operating manual.

Series VI: Administrative Materialsincludes administrative materials such as grant information and resumes that relate to Jaime Davidovich's professional career. The series is divided into six subseries. Subseries A: Resumesincludes drafts and updated resumes and CVs. Subseries B: Contactsincludes addressbooks, mailing lists and other contact information. Subseries C: Professional Organizations and Opportunitiesincludes publicity information and membership information regarding professional art organizations and professional opportunities including grants and residencies. Subseries D: Grantscontains grant applications and supporting materials. Subseries E: Loansconsists of loan requests, agreements, contracts, and receipts. Subseries F: Equipment and Manualscontains directions and owner's manuals for appliances, tools, and audio-visiual equipment.

Series VII: Other Artistscontains works, exhibition information, and press pertaining to other artists. It is divided into two subseries. Series A: Mail Art Albumincludes items including postcards removed from a binder. Items are organized to reflect the binder's organization. Subseries B: Announcements and Worksincludes materials organized by artist name.

Whenever possible, the Jaime Davidovich collection is organized chronologically.

The following published materials from the Jaime Davidovich Papers have been individually catalogued into the Fales' Print and Periodicals Collection. Call numbers for these items can be located through Bobcat, NYU's online catalog.

Alive: The New Performance Magazinev. 1 n.2 (1982).

Anderson, Alexandra and B.J. Archer. Anderson and Archer's SoHo. Simon and Schuster: 1979.

Art ComEd. Carl E. Loeffler.n. 15 (1981), n. 16 (1982), v.5 n.18 (1982), v. 5 n. 19 (1982), v. 5 n.20 (1983), v. 6 n.21 (1983), v.6 n. 22 (1983), v. 6 n. 23 (1984), n.24 (1984).

Avalanche.Eds. Liza Bear and Willoughby Sharp. n.1 (Fall 1970), n. 2 (Winter 1971), n. 3 (Fall 1971), n. 4 (Spring 1972), n. 5 (Summer 1972), n.6 (Fall 1972), n. 7 (Winter/Spring 1973), n. 8 (Summer/Fall 1973).

Block, Rene. SoHo: Downtown Manhattan.Akademie der Kunste Berliner Festwochen, 1976.

Jaime Davidovich: Video Works 1970-2000.Eds. Mario Valledor and Alicia Di Stasio. Latinografica S.R.L., 2004.

Jaime Davidovich: The Live! ShowThe American Museum of the Moving Image, 1989.

The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s.Museum of Contemporary Hispanis Art, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. 1990 [includes Davidovich work, "Evita: a Video Scrapbook"]

FILEv.3 n.4 (Fall 1977), v. 4 n.1 (Summer 1978), v.4 n.2 (Fall 1979).

Fluxus Etc.ed. Jon Hendricks. Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, 1981.

Fluxus Etc, Addenda 1. ed. Jon Hendricks. Inc [amprisand], 1983.

Gaylem, Margot and Edmund V. Gillon Jr. Cast-Iron Architecture in New York.Dover Publications, Inc., 1974.

Image World: Art and Media Culture.Curated by Marvin Heiferman, Lisa Phillips, and John G. Hanhardt. Whitney Museum of American Art, 1989.

Kacunko, Slavko. Closed Circuit Videoinstallationen.Berlin: Logos, 2004.

The New Television: A Public/Private Art.ed. Douglas Davis and Allison Simmons. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1979.

Paik, Nam June. Art for 25 Million People/Bounjour Mr. Orwell/ Art and Satellite.1984.

Real Life Magazine. New York. n.9 (Winter 1982/1983), n.16 (1986) [Context-Come Together Textere- To Weave" by J. Davidovich], n.20 (1990) ["Manifesto for the last decade of this century" by J. Davidovich].

SOHO: A Guide, A Documentary.ed. Roland Hagenberg. Egret PUblications, 1986.

Simpson, Charles R. SOHO: the Artist in the CityUniversity of Chicago Press, 1981.

Stratton, Jim. Pioneering in the Urban Wilderness. Urizen Books, 1977.

TV MagazineEd. Robin F. White. Published by Artists Television Network. New York. Pilot issue, v.1 n.1 (1983).

3 Mercer Street.Davidovich, Jaime. 1975. Limited Edition # 6/10 (in booklet) #7/10 (on DVD).

The Fales Library and Special Collections purchased the Jaime Davidovich Collection from Jaime Davidovich in 2004.

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); Jaime Davidovich Collection; MSS 155; box number; folder number; New York University Libraries.