Associação Cultural Videobrasil

Diego Lama (1980, Lima, Peru) is graduated in Fine Arts at Corriente Alterna - Fine Arts College (1998-2003). Lama is part of a generation of young Peruvian artists who use electronic art as their main means of expression.

His first video production was El Viaje (1998), which was exhibited at the 3rd Festival Internacional de Videoarte [International VideoArt Festival] (1999) in Peru. The following year, he produced “I've got you under my skin”, which was exhibited at the fourth edition of this same festival.

In 2000, he participated in the Rec Media 1, an exhibition of electronic and musical culture in Lima, with the video Beyond somewhere (2000). In this work, the sense of time is altered, emphasizing a powerful scene of a suicide which ends up dyeing the sky behind the character. This work, in a way, defines Lama's style through images full of double meanings, irony, and black humour.

In that same year he produced Estereoscopia, a video that makes use of the connections between sound and image as a generator of meanings. On the screen, divided in two, we see a soldering process at one side of the screen and, at the other side, a fish responding to the noises and movements of the process. This technique of the synchronization of the sounds and the ironical use of famous songs feature in other works, emphasizing the ambiguous character of Lama's works. In 2003, he produced No Latin Party, which shows a scene of Coppola's The Godfather II with Carmen Miranda's song South American Way as soundtrack in an ironical, critical tone.

In 2001, he produced Schizo (uncopyrighted), a video that relates Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho to Gus Van Sant's version (1998). In this video, Lama uses Frank Sinatra's I Love You as soundtrack to Hitchcock's classical shower's scene. This video was exhibited at Videoex's international competitive exhibition - Internacional Experimentalfilm and Videofest, in Zurich, Switzerland (2002); L.A. Freewaves, Los Angeles (2002); World Wide Video Festival, Amsterdam, Holland (2003), among others. It was also exhibited at the Festival Internacional de Videoarte, in Peru.

In 2002, he produced Family, a video which treats the tense relationships between members of a family. Its almost minimalist images emphasize the details, revealing Diego Lama's universe, its ambiguity, formal rigour, and open, non-linear narrative. Family was exhibited at the 7th Festival Internacional de Videoarte, in Peru, and also at the exhibition Pain Killers, Pain thrillers (2004), curated by Max Hernandez Calvo for the Centro Cultural of the Universidade Católica, in Lima, Peru.

In 2004, Diego Lama was selected for a three months residency at Site Gallery, an international centre for contemporary art in London.