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5 Artists who are currently reshaping the world of Artists’ Films
July 13, 2025
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
In the shifting landscape of contemporary art, video has constantly been redefined by its own endless possibilities and forms: artists like Matthew Barney have embraced more cinematic approaches, while others such as Marina Abramović or Bruce Nauman have linked the filmic language to their performance-based practice, using the possibility of recording to activate new meanings to their performances. The term "video art" itself, once used to describe this art form, is now starting to sound outdated; in its place, the term “artists’ films” has gained traction, reflecting a more nuanced understanding of how artists use film.
Despite the enormous popularity video has in the world of time-based art (whereas forms of art like video games are still struggling to find spaces), it remains difficult to position video works within the traditional structures of the art market. Collectors, often conservative in shaping their collections, tend to prefer painting, sculpture, and other more tangible or static forms. As a result, many artists working with moving images feel pressure to pivot toward figurative or plastic art, especially when preparing for major art fairs, where visibility and sales are closely linked. At the 2025 edition of ARCO Madrid, Loop Barcelona — an art fair dedicated exclusively to artists’ films — conducted a video survey asking galleries why so few films are shown at art fairs, with the most common response pointing to the incompatibility between the immersive experience a film requires and the chaotic, fast-paced environment of the typical art fair booth.
Nonetheless, in a media-saturated world like the one we inhabit, where moving images surround us constantly (from social media feeds to traditional media and advertising), it’s hardly surprising that some of the most compelling and resonant contemporary artists are those working with video. Audiovisual language has become part of our everyday vocabulary, and the filmic medium, far from being a niche or secondary practice, is the perfect language to interpret and critique contemporary life. Here, we highlight five pivotal artists in the current landscape of artists’ films who are dominating conversations in the art world and showing how this often commercially marginalised format is, in fact, flourishing more than ever.
Diego Marcon
Diego Marcon (1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is a contemporary artist working predominantly with moving images, known for creating films that subvert classical cinematic tropes with a unique dose of grotesque imagery and dark absurdism. His films often unfold in loops and structured repetitions, where characters are caught in futile gestures or cryptic actions away from rationality. Marcon’s visual language evokes a sense of ambiguity where childlike elements meet eerie atmospheres thanks to a weird mix of CGI aesthetics and prosthetic make-up. As critic Lou Stoppard noted in an essay dedicated to Macron’s artistry on Frieze, the Italian artists’ films immerse the viewer in a space “beyond conventional morality", where nostalgia meets horror and 90s kids' TV shows.
Deborah-Joyce Holman
Deborah-Joyce Holman (1991, Basel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose moving image work explores the politics of representation, particularly in relation to Black and queer identities, with her films revolving around strategies to resist the commodification of culture. Her video works usually deal with sudden changes of perspective that spark a light on previously unseen schemes or sentiments: In Moment 2 (2022), for example, she reimagines Shirley Clarke’s seminal 1967 film Portrait of Jason (about a Black gay man and aspiring entertainer) by inviting the artist Rebecca Bellantoni to deliver a continuous, unbroken recitation of excerpts from the original work. In Close-Up (2024), rather than relying on striking images or action, she tenderly centres on a Black actress performing minimal gestures in a domestic setting, submerged in an atmosphere of stillness and subtlety.
Ndayé Kouagou
Ndayé Kouagou (1992, Montreuil) is a writer-turned-artist working mostly across video under the name Young Black Romantics. His practice begins with text and usually delves into monologues exploring themes of power, vulnerability, arbitrary rules and language. Kouagou’s videos often draw on the language and structure of social media, TED Talks, and self-help culture, creating characters who speak in looping, ambiguous phrases, talking directly to the spectators. His whole practice, ironic and corrosive, uses digital aesthetics to reflect on how internet culture shapes identity, and often to demonstrate the complexities of contemporary communication influenced by algorithms.
Valentin Noujaïm
Valentin Noujaïm is a French-Egyptian-Lebanese artist whose work combines experimental cinematic techniques with themes of colonial history and marginalisation, moving fluidly between formats (from 16mm film to digital video) and genres. Often blending fantasy and reality, Noujaïm invites reflection on the lasting impact of colonialism while never abandoning the cinematic “high-concept” look that defines his style, halfway between fashion film and coming-of-age movie. In Daughters of Destiny (2021), three friends are swept into a queer cabaret filled with vibrant, otherworldly figures (reminiscent of Thierry Mugler’s legendary 1995 fashion show at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver), once again creating a speculative narrative influenced by body horror, fashion and sci-fi.
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist whose work blends animation, installation, and performance to explore themes of identity, belonging and the absurdities of contemporary life. Her practice often involves creating immersive environments that look straight out of a videogame or an old cartoon from one’s oldest memories. In her 2024 exhibition For My Best Family at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Bennani presented a kinetic installation titled Soul Crushing, featuring 192 mechanised flip-flops and slippers that perform a rhythmic, percussive ballet. Accompanying this installation was an animated film, For Aicha, co-directed with Orian Barki, which delves into the intimate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship through two CGI anthropomorphised wolf characters, whose snapshots became iconic right after the first opening of the exhibition.
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