Graduated in philosophy at USP (1981) and art at Faculdade de Belas Artes de São Paulo (1980). In August 2000, together with Paula Perissinotto, he organized the 1st International Festival of Electronic Language (FILE) at the MIS in São Paulo. Barreto has been experimenting with different media since the 1980s. Much of his work at in the period was done as a member of the BWG group (Ricardo Barreto, Ricardo Godoy and Marina Woo). In the late 90s, in partnership with Paula Perissinotto, he stepped up his involvement with the Internet, as artist and producer of events: in 1998, he launched the web site www.satmundi.com and in 2000 organized the 1st International Festival of Electronic Language www.file.org.br, (both with Paula Perissinotto). His individual works include proposals for interactive CD-ROMs, virtual-reality and web-art works.