A fascinating voice in the growing medium of virtual reality, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s solid reputation was borne out in his installation presented in Montreal, Carne y Arena. Jean Gagnon challenges the enthusiasm shown for this “exceptional storytelling experience,” although he acknowledges its high quality in that respect. “Iñárritu’s work,” he writes, “is even more ingenious, for his installation cannot be summarized simply in narration, and the experience is not simply virtual.” This work, out the ordeal of clandestine migration, “articulates something other than simulated reality” and reaches past the phenomenon of what is perceived. “Carne y Arena,” Gagnon concludes, “questions art’s effectiveness, role, and power to generate change by oscillating between emotion and intellect, the sensory and the intelligible.”