Pedro Roth

 Born in Budapest, Hungary (1938), Pedro Roth has lived all his life in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a degree in Film Production from the National University of La Plata. He began his career as a photographer in 1960 and his artistic career in 1973, holding numerous exhibitions in Argentina and abroad. He is an passionate promoter Argentine art through various projects around the world, and documented the most significant artistic movements since the 1960s, creating a unique historical archive in Argentina. He has directed numerous audiovisual film projects.  
 

Roth has exhibited extensively between Prague and Buenos Aires in venues such as the Laura Haber Gallery, Centro Cultural Borges and the Wussman Gallery, among others. His works can be found in collections of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Latinoamericano, La Plata (MACLA); Jewish Museum of Prague; Museo de Bellas Artes de Azul, Provincia de Buenos Aires; Museo Contemporáneo de Santa Fe (MAC); and the Jewish Museum of Buenos Aires. Recognition of his career is reflected in the awards he has received. In 2020, he was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts’ Career Award. In 2023, he was twice honored with the Artistic Career Award of the National Salon of Visual Arts. In 2010, the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires named him Distinguished Citizen of Culture, an honor reserved for individuals who have left a profound mark on the city’s cultural life. 

Created for Point of Contact’s 2025 Cruel April event, the piece is inspired by Argentine author Julio Cortázar’s Zipper Sonnet, one of his Cinco Sonetos Eróticos (1977), published by Point of Contact in the spring of 1978. It includes a series of prints by artist Pedro Roth, and historical critical analysis with translation of the poem to English by Dr. José Sanjinés. Printing and portfolio design by Syracuse printmaker, Carrie Valenzuela.  
 
José Sanjinés is associate professor in the Languages Department at Coastal Carolina University. He is a Doctor of Philosophy, Spanish Culture & Literature (1990, Syracuse University). He has published numerous articles in journals such as Semiótica, Signs and Society, Studies in Communication Science, The American Journal of Semiotics, The Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis, The Latin Americanist and Point of Contact. He is the author of poetry, fiction, and a book on the short narrative of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar Paseos en el horizonte (Strolls on the Horizon).