Catalogue > At random

In Pasajes IV the idea follows the same narrative, concept and structure as in the other videos from the series. In the previous three Pasajes video works a formula repeats on different backdrops: a character unites places through gateways, doors, stairs and roads which are otherwise spatially disconnected from each other. This is the geography of a story expressed in an alteration of normalcy. In this formulation of Pasajes IV, the video explores the landscape of Patagonia. Crisscrossing this territory in search for differences within the landscape, a character as a guide, unites different territories disconnected in their geography, as essential pieces of a puzzle to understand this region’s present topography and history.

Sebastián Díaz Morales was born in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, in 1975 and now lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He attended the Universidad del Cine de Antin in Argentina from 1993-1999, the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam from 2000-2001 and Le Fresnoy Studio des arts contemporains in Roubaix, France from 2003-2004. He has had solo exhibitions in the USA, Mexico, and numerous cities in Europe, and his work has been supported by a number of grants and awards. Díaz Morales uses a number of different formal strategies to create his videos, ranging from the digital manipulation of appropriated news clips to lengthy, film-like narrative works made from footage filmed by himself. Díaz Morales explores the relationship between large-scale socio-political power dynamics and individual action in works which create a sense of uneasiness for the viewer. His films are often somewhat surreal, establishing a tension between a depicted social reality and its representation in a visually abstract or fantasy-inflected way. Throughout his works, multiple forms of dependence are explored, including dependent relationships between people, the environment, and social structures.