Screening: Sergio Hernández Francés

This program showcases the hallucinatory video work of Mexican artist Sergio Hernández Francés (1964-95), whose experimentation across theater, cinema, music, and new media influenced a generation of artists in Mexico. Making ample use of chromakey, collage, and a psychedelic sensibility, works like SUEÑO DE SERPIENTE and LOKOPHONIA helped establish Mexico City’s experimental video scene and are among the most striking early artistic responses to the AIDS crisis in Mexico. Despite his influence, Hernández Francés’s work has rarely been seen since his death from AIDS-related complications in 1995. The work in this program was rescued by video art pioneer Ximena Cuevas as part of her acclaimed compilation Los Archivos X and is being reintroduced today through the efforts of artist Jorge Bordello, who completed a Visual AIDS Research Fellowship in 2024. Bordello's text "Dreaming Snakes: Acts of illusion and protest in the work of Sergio Hernández Francés" is available to read on the Visual AIDS Journal. (Leer en espanol aquí.)

This screening is presented in tandem with the Third Annual Visual AIDS Research Symposium at the Museum of Modern Art on October 24.

Tickets are available to purchase through Anthology Film Archives.

Screening Program
SERPENT’S DREAM / SUEÑO DE SERPIENTE 1991, 8 min, analogue-video-to-digital
DEADLY SINS / PECADOS CAPITALES 1993, 9 min, analogue-video-to-digital
AH CABALA VIDA 1993, 6 min, analogue-video-to-digital
LOKOPHONIA 1991, 11 min, analogue-video-to-digital
With an introduction by Jorge Bordello.

Total running time: ca. 40 min.