Beta Test

Single Channel HD Video and/or part of “Social Software” 3-channel Video Installation
15 min
Berlin, Germany/2005-06

AWARDED

“VII Media Art Forum”, Best Short Film, 2nd Prize, XXVII Moscow International Film Festival, Moscow, Russia (2006)

 

4 min. excerpt

Beta is the second letter of the Greek alphabet, the letter B.
Beta Test is the story of a city.
Beta is the first version of software that has to be tested before going out in the market.
Beta Test is about our future.
It is about surveillance, urbanity,communication and the feeling of non-existence.
Beta test is a love story.
It can happen to anyone.

PRESENTED AT

2023
“Photography as Film”, C.A.R. Contemporary Art Ruhr, Germany

2021
“After Us”, MAXXI Museum Of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
“After Us”, Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy

2018
“Domestic and Urban Landscape”, Loop – Contemporary Artist’s Film Fair and Festival, Barcelona, Fundació Suñol

 

2017
“Uncinematic”, George Drivas’s Solo Show, Galeria Nazionale d’arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy

2014
“The Laboratory Diaries”, A Tribute to George Drivas’s work. Athens International Film Festival – Greek Cinematheque

2009
“un-documented”, George Drivas’s Solo Show, National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Athens Greece

2007
“Paraflows: un_space”, Convention for Digital Arts and Cultures, Vienna, Austria
“Demain, dès l´aube –  Les Jeunes Cinéastes D’aujourd’hui”, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
“CIFF”, Cyprus International Film Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus

2006
“VII Media Art Forum”, XXVII Moscow International Film Festival, Moscow, Russia
“MIFF”, Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia
“Unimovie”, International Competition on Art and Experimental Video – International Video and Short Film Festival, Pescara, Italy
“Space, Place, Interface”, Group Show, LiveBox Gallery, Chicago, USA
“ExIs”, Experimental Film and Video Festival, Seoul, Korea
“Alternative Video/Film”, Festival of New Film and Video, Belgrade, Serbia
“Xperimental 5.0”, International Experimental Film Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus
“LA Freewaves”, Festival of New Media Arts, Los Angeles, USA
“Festival du Nouveau Cinema”, Montreal, Canada
“Art Tech Media”, CCCB (Centro de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona) Barcelona, Spain
“Dark Light Film Festival”, Dublin, Ireland
“Signes de Nuit”, International Short Film Festival, Paris, France
“Director’s Lounge”, Contemporary Media and Art, Berlin, Germany
“Trampoline”, Platform for New Media Art, Berlin, Germany
“Machfeld”, International Arts and Culture Society, Vienna, Austria

Reviews

“Urban architecture provides a stark backdrop for a brief encounter between two individuals in Drivas’ “Beta Test.” A clinical account of their exchange, apparently typed across a computer screen, leaves us feeling detached from the couple’s exchanges. The viewer is a voyeur of their actions; rather than observing a salacious rendezvous, the viewer feels more like a scientist observing mice in a cage.”
'Lumen Eclipse'
Online Gallery and Archive (2008)
“BETA TEST lies exactly in a territory between man and machine. BETA TEST observes history and raises questions about Berlin’s future and relationship between East and West sensibilities.”
Live Box Gallery, Chicago, USA. (2006)
“Reported through a series of surveillance stills reminiscent of Marker’s La Jetée, two subjects interact in an emptied Berlin cityscape. A post-apocalyptic elegy to 60s architectural drawings.”
Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia (2006)
“Today’s Berlin as a place of action for the Alphaville sequel.”
Moscow International Film Festival, Moscow, Russia (2006)
“Using only black and white still photography and subtitles as the narration, George Drivas film, Beta Test, is a most enigmatic and thought provoking short in the tradition of Chris Marker’s 1962 film, La Jetee. The film explores the mind of a man, a woman and a city by looks at urbanity, communication and the feeling of non-existence.”
'Director’s Lounge'
Contemporary Media and Art, Berlin, Germany (2006)
“A very deep construction of a surreal story, able to bring us in other places, spaces and times.”
'Unimovie'
International Video and Short Film Festival, Pescara, Italy (2006)