Sebastián Díaz Morales (b. 1975, Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina) is an artist and filmmaker based in Amsterdam. Working primarily with high-definition video and multi-channel installations, his practice unfolds at the intersection of documentary, fiction, and cinematic essay. His films question how reality is constructed, mediated, and remembered – often by unsettling what initially appears familiar.

Díaz Morales studied at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires (1993–1999), followed by the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (2000–2001) and Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains in Roubaix (2003–2004). The industrial landscapes and harsh climatic conditions of his hometown – situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Patagonian desert – continue to inform his sensitivity to place, perception, and social structures.

Highlighted Work: Smashing Monuments (2022)

Smashing Monuments follows five members of the Indonesian artist collective ruangrupa as they wander through Jakarta, engaging in one-sided, intimate conversations with monuments across the city. Though silent and immobile, these public structures are animated through dialogue, memory, and personal reflection.

Grounded in the lived experiences of the artists, the film moves between Indonesia’s struggle for independence and the city’s contemporary socio-economic transformations. Themes central to ruangrupa’s practice – such as friendship, generosity, humour, and collective care – shape the film’s loose, semi-improvised structure.

Rather than treating monuments as static symbols of official history, Díaz Morales frames them as emotionally charged sites where personal, collective, and ideological narratives intersect. The film becomes both a document of a specific moment and a meditation on how public symbols absorb, resist, and transform meaning over time.

Between Documentary and Representation

Díaz Morales approaches filmmaking from the conviction that reality is never neutral or fixed, but always constructed. His camera does not simply record what is there; it actively participates in questioning how meaning is produced. By distorting time, shifting perspective, and foregrounding the act of looking, his films reveal the instability of what we often accept as factual.

Rather than offering clear narratives, Díaz Morales creates cinematic spaces that invite association and interpretation. The viewer’s imagination becomes an active force—filling gaps, producing space, and gradually exposing the fictional qualities embedded within reality itself. In this sense, reality in his work is always slightly out of reach: never fully captured, always “a little ahead” of the image.

His films oscillate between documentary, speculative fiction, essay, and poetic observation. Minimalist in structure yet rich in implication, they often employ continuous camera movement and metaphorical figures to address broader social, political, and historical questions without didacticism.

Art in Collective Protest

Collectivity is a recurring force in Sebastián Díaz Morales’ practice, particularly in works that address protest, public space, and shared political action. In Miles marchan (Thousands March), protest is distilled into movement. Filmed at ground level with an inverted gimbal-mounted monopod, the camera follows an unbroken stream of legs – young and old, moving at different rhythms – momentarily fused into a single, advancing body.

By excluding faces, slogans, and individual narratives, Díaz Morales shifts attention away from personal identity toward collective energy. The march becomes both specific and universal, resonating with Argentina’s long history of public protest while echoing demonstrations worldwide. Protest here is not only a political gesture, but a cinematic form: a portrait of a multitude animated by shared momentum.

Looping endlessly without a clear beginning or end, the work evokes the persistence of collective action across time. Miles marchan frames the masses as a dynamic social force, at once historical and contemporary, revealing how repetition and presence generate memory and resistance – and perhaps the potential for change.

More About the Artist

Díaz Morales' work has been shown internationally at institutions including Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, De Appel, Ludwig Museum Budapest, Biennale de São Paulo, Biennale of Sydney, and Documenta Fifteen. His films are held in major collections such as Tate, Centre Pompidou, Fundación Jumex, the Pinault Collection, and Museu Berardo. In 2009, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Header: Sebastián Díaz Morales, Suspension (2015) 12'14". In collection: LI-MA.