Empirical Data
Single Channel HD Video, 34 min.
Greece 2009
Best Experimental Film Award at London Greek Film Festival, London UK, 2010.
Empirical Data is a film that deals with someone’s relationship with an environment that is “alien” and often hostile in a sense. This is done through a character who, seeking to socially establish himself, appears to change in order to be accepted by this new environment. The script comes from the personal experience of the actor of Georgian origin David Maltese as an immigrant in Greece, and his trajectory from entering the country to taking up acting, an event that eventually led to his professional recognition and subsequent “integration” into the Greek society. The main part is played by him.
PREMIERED AT
– “(un-)documented”, George Drivas Solo Show, Νational Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece, 2009
PRESENTED AT
2019
-“Homemade Exotica”, Group Show, Freiraum in der Box, Berlin, Germany
2018
-“In The Meantime”, A Film Series at LE BAL, Paris, France
– Institut Français, Beijing, China
2017
-“Uncinematic” – George Drivas Solo Show, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
– “ANTIDORON – the EMST Collection”, documenta 14, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany,
2013
-“Art Projections”, Thessaloniki Cinema Museum, Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece
-“Hybrid Stories”, Group Show, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
2012
– “The Best of the Best: 5 Years London Greek Film Festival”, Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, Greece
– “Neighborhood X.0”, Group Show, Goethe Institut, Ankara, Turkey
– “L’evento immobile. Sfogliare il tempo”, Group Show, MAN-Museo d’ Arte di Nuoro, Sardegna, Italy
2011
– “RAM Projects”, Berlin, Germany
– EX3 Contemporary Art Center, Florence, Italy
2010
-“LGFF”, London Greek Film Festival, London, UK
-“Cinesonika”, International Film and Video Festival, Vancouver, Canada
-“Digital Wave”, The Greek Cinematheque, Athens, Greece
2009
– “Digital Wave”, Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece
– “Transitio_MX – Autonomies of Disagreement”, New Media Art and Video International Festival, Mexico City, Mexico
– “(un-)documented”, George Drivas Solo Show, Νational Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
Reviews
“The work of George Drivas, is a narrative video made of b&w fotos, with aesthetics reminding of great moments of classical cinema. Someone could say that we are watching a Hitchcock of another era following a murder with his candid camera. And indeed that’s what Drivas seems to do, by secretly following the still moments in a story of loneliness, surveillance and vanity.”
ELEFTEROTYPIA Newspaper (June 2009), Maria Maragou
“His movies are like an enigma that every spectator can answer in a different way. He combines cinema with photography. He dares to test himself in a new territory and he wins.”
TA NEA Newspaper (2009), Mary Adamopoulou
“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.”
Artfacts.net (2009)