Overview - Solo show: George Drivas - (un-)documented - National Museum of Contemporary Art

	George Drivas, Empirical Data, 2009 Single channel videoinstallation © National Museum of Contemporary Art, The artist

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The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, presents the first solo exhibition of George Drivas titled (un-)documented realized from the 12th of June until the 6th of September 2009. The exhibition is part of EMST's policy for the support and promotion of young creators. The exhibition presents for the first time the trilogy Social Software (2005-2009) which includes the works Beta Test, (2005), Case Study (2007-2008) and Development Plan (2009), the work Closed Circuit (2005) and most importantly the new work titled Empirical Data (2009) co-produced by EMST.

George Drivas, one of the most important Greek artists of the younger generation, creates narrative videos that consist of black and white digital photos, intertitled text, music and sound. The result, a hybrid work, combines written text together with cinematic and photographic characteristics. His aesthetic brings to mind classical cinematography, with strong references to modern architecture and an "aesthetic of surveillance" since most of his photographs appear as if have been shot from the viewpoint of a hidden observer. With photographic technical mastery and an objective, almost scientific language, Drivas narrates stories that touch upon the subjects of alienation, social integration, the promise and the disappointment from interpersonal relations in a society of surveillance.

George Drivas was born in Athens in 1969. He graduated in 1994 from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens with a degree at Political Science and in 1998 with a Masters Degree in Film and Media Studies from Freie Universitat in Berlin. He has participated in the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, exhibitions Transexperiences Greece 2008 in Beijing and In Present Tense, Young Greek Artists. He has participated and awarded in a number of international festivals, such as the VII Media Art Forum, XXVII Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF) (2nd Prize), the 1st Zebra International Poetry Film Festival in Berlin (2nd Prize) and at New York EXPO, New York exposition of film and video shorts (Jury Award for Experimental Short Film). He lives and works in Athens and Berlin.

Director's Preface

During his decade-long career as an artist, George Drivas has emerged as an outstanding case among the Greek artists of the younger generation. His work, positioned in the cross-section of the cinematographic and photographic storytelling and also incorporating the written word and sound, detects relationships and boundaries between reality and fiction, objective testimony and aesthetic construction. Poetic and enigmatic narratives, open through artistic deception and deconstructive practices to different versions and interpretations, is inscribed in the real through the rhetoric and style of direct representation and documentation, before finally being read as constructed fiction.

The artist's first solo exhibition, (un-) documented is part of the National Museum of Contemporary Art policy for discovering and promoting young artists and experimental forms of contemporary art in Greece. The exhibition features a coherent set of five video installations, with the trilogy Social Software (2006-09) at its core. The cycle is completed by a new work by George Drivas entitled Empirical Data, specifically conceived for the exhibition in co-production with the Museum and to become part of the Museum's collections. This production inaugurates the Project Room, featuring new projects commissioned by EMST.

Anna Kafetsi
Director, National Museum of Contemporary Art

George Drivas - (un-)documented Press Release as pdf-File

Anna Kafetsi - Preface as pdf-File

Solo show: George Drivas - (un-)documented (over)