Art Is Dark and Full of Horrors

This corrosive satire of the Mexican art world unfolds during a week of ferocious preening, dealing and partying. Star artist Chema rules the scene – but if he falls, every vulture of the art market is ready to swoop in.

“When time is fragmented, the paradigm arises”: that’s one of many ‘artspeak’ gems uttered by the self-conscious, go-getting poseurs who populate the Mexico City art world in Artemio Narro’s no-holds-barred film. All the character types of the contemporary art world are here, mercilessly placed under the glare of the camera’s scrutiny: the all-powerful curator, the pretentious critic, the wide-eyed groupie, the ambitious gallery assistant… As for the artists, they are arranged in three tiers: hopefuls fresh from school, currently feted stars and pathetic former heroes of the scene, who are now shunned by all. But does any of their art truly matter?

Artemio Narro, whose two previous features ColOZio (2020) and Me quedo contigo (2015) have played at IFFR, continues his stylised and irreverent approach to storytelling. Witty Brechtian distancing devices – including life-size cardboard cut-outs standing in for real people – abound. And in this film about art, almost no art is ever actually glimpsed: the ‘white cube’ of the modern gallery has never looked emptier or more bereft of soul.

– Cristina Álvarez López

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