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Gregg Smith

UNDEREXPOSED

Fiction expérimentale | | couleur | 23:0 | Afrique du sud | 2009

A young man (Hubert Brown) arrives in a quiet rural location in order to present his candidature for job there. As the interview procedures are to take place over several days, he has traveled together with his wife (Christine), so that they might both benefit from a few days in the countryside. Though he has little working experience as yet, he has been recommended for the post by the wife of an acquaintance, who seems to have some influence. The project involves the redevelopment of a piece of land previously used as a nature reserve. As the day unfolds a precarious web of power relations becomes evident as various individuals struggle to find a firm footing in a scheme which at this stage remains highly speculative. It becomes evident that there are several forces already at play in this seemingly empty landscape. For one thing, it is inhabited by residents who have a strong bond with the land, and are resistant to the development plans. The area seems also to physically affect all those who move through it, animating their gestures with sporadic dancelike movements. These movements are never noticed or remarked upon. The film takes the dance-musical form as a point of departure, but eliminates the element of music. The issue of land is remains a charged and unresolved issue in South Africa. In the video project Underexposed, notions of ownership and empowerment are taken a level further. The film questions the dynamics at play in daily exchanges which determine who has the means to exploit their own resources : their body, their ideas and beliefs. The loose fiction follows the redevelopment of a large piece of seemingly vacant land. A precarious web of power relations becomes evident as various individuals struggle to find a firm footing in a scheme which at this stage remains highly speculative. It becomes evident that there are several forces already at play. For one thing, it is inhabited by residents who have a strong bond with the land, and are resistant to the development plans. The area seems also to physically affect all those who move through it, animating their gestures with sporadic dancelike movements. These movements are never noticed or remarked upon.

Gregg Smith is an artist of South African origin, born in Cape Town and currently living and working in Paris, France. with origins in the traditions of painting and performance his video works experiment with the narrative form as means to question the relation between personal perceptions and social interactions. His work is equally traverses the realms of cinema of contemporary art traditions Recent exhibitions and screenings include : Fondation Espace Ecureuil (Toulouse), Rotterdam International Film Festival, FIDMarseille International Documentary Film Festival, Galeria dels Angels - Carmelitas Gallery, LOOP `07 (Barcelona), Fundació Joan Miró, (Barcelona), Le Plateau, Espace Experimantal (Paris) et Musé du Jeu de Paume (Paris).