Iván Argote

As Far As We Could Get

Iván Argote’s As Far As We Could Get comprises a series of video chapters made in the municipality of Palembang, Indonesia and the small town of Neiva, Colombia. The two cities are exact antipodes. The geographical usage of the term antipode – designating points diametrically opposite one another on the globe – stems from the ancient belief that the other side of the earth held a kind of netherworld, where everything was inverted, causing the men who lived there to walk backwards. Ivan Argote tests this theory, surveying a pair of modern-day antipodes for his 22-minute video. Urban antipodes are rare, with only a handful of possible case studies. While physically the farthest points from one another on the globe, the two cities share a status as former colonies and occupy positions similarly peripheral to the flows of global capital and culture. The film tracks other commonalities through seven chapters, applying Borgesian taxonomies to catalogue anachronistic monuments or attitudes toward public displays of affection.