Film Series | Behind the Frame: Art and Its Invisible Structures In dialogue with “The Impossible Order of the World,” Proa presents a must-see encounter between cinema and critical thought. Curated by journalist Alicia de Arteaga, this documentary series explores both the visible rules and the hidden mechanisms of the art market. Proa presents a new film series that extends the exhibition’s questions into the audiovisual realm. Under the title Behind the Frame: Art and Its Invisible Structures, the program brings together a selection of documentaries that examine the contemporary art system not through artworks themselves, but through the mechanisms that make their circulation and legitimation possible—and sometimes problematic. With coordination and presentation by journalist Alicia de Arteaga, the selected films introduce viewers to the complex network where economic interests, cultural institutions, legal frameworks, and authoritative narratives converge. Markets, auctions, museums, authentication circuits, and validation mechanisms appear here as decisive settings in the construction of an artwork’s or an artist’s value, though they are rarely visible to the general public. In this sense, the first screening takes its title from a quote by Oscar Wilde, written in 1892 in Lady Windermere’s Fan, interpreted on screen by art collector Stefan Edlis: “There are many people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” The films rigorously examine the system’s interstices: what is shown and what is hidden, ethics and speculation, public access and private concentration. Through an investigative format, the selection outlines the processes that usually operate behind the scenes but directly shape which works circulate, which are consecrated, and under what rules. It offers viewers an opportunity to understand how the meaning of contemporary art is constructed—and contested—today. Screenings take place in the auditorium. Each session includes a brief introduction and a post-screening discussion between attendees and Alicia de Arteaga.
Program
/ Sunday, February 8
The Price of Everything
2018 / USA / 98 min / Dir.: Nathaniel Kahn
A journey through the contemporary art market that foregrounds collectors, artists, gallerists, and auction houses, directly questioning how artistic value is constructed today. Through influential voices within the system, the film contrasts market logic with art’s historical aspirations as a cultural experience and space of meaning. It exposes the tensions between economic and symbolic value, revealing a field shaped by structural inequalities and increasing “financialization.” At the crossroads of idealism and speculation, The Price of Everything sheds light on a system that must produce consensus around value in order to sustain its own legitimacy.
/ Sunday, February 15
Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art
2020 / USA–Canada / 94 min / Dir.: Barry Avrich
A revealing documentary about one of the largest scandals in the contemporary art market: the systematic circulation of forged works attributed to key figures of Abstract Expressionism. Through interviews with dealers, collectors, experts, and FBI agents, the film reconstructs a network of deception sustained over many years. Beyond the criminal case, it questions the mechanisms of authentication and legitimation that uphold the art system. Made You Look shows how desire, prestige, and the need to believe in authority can create a context in which truth becomes secondary to the preservation of economic and symbolic value.
/ Sunday, February 22
Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World
2017 / USA–Canada / 86 min / Dir.: Barry Avrich
An immersion into the gray zones of the contemporary art system, where the boundaries between creation, market, ethics, and power become blurred. Through testimonies from artists, curators, gallerists, advisors, and collectors, the film reveals a network of relationships marked by ambiguity and constant negotiation. It highlights the fragility of the consensuses that sustain the global art world. Blurred Lines shows how the system’s apparent order depends on unstable balances, strategic silences, and unwritten rules that define who participates, who is excluded, and under what conditions value is produced.
Directors
Nathaniel Kahn
An American director and producer recognized for his documentaries on art, architecture, and culture. Son of architect Louis Kahn, his work is characterized by a reflective approach to creation, legacy, and cultural valuation. Films such as My Architect and The Price of Everything have established him as a key figure in contemporary art-focused documentary filmmaking.
A Canadian documentary filmmaker with an extensive body of work exploring real-life stories related to power, money, and culture. His work stands out for its direct access to key protagonists within the systems he examines and for his clear commitment to revealing ethical tensions without sacrificing an accessible narrative. In recent years, he has become a central voice in audiovisual analyses of the art market.