Purple Television
[October 13 2011] : art
20 Porjects presents the Invader-Benvenuti A Lampedusa by Nicolas Provost
Xerxes Cook introduces the first film in a week of art films chosen and curated by 20 PROJECTS for an online gallery on purple TELEVISION to celebrate Frieze. Nicolas Provost is a Belgian artist whose practice explores the “phenomenon of cinema” and its effects on our collective conscious.
Through manipulating landmark films such as The Shining, Rashomon and other sources of archive film material – or as in his Plot Point trilogy – by placing hidden, high-definition cameras and actors like Jon Voight and Jack Nicholson of a Las Vegas casino or Times Square, Provost edits so as to imbue the footage with the emotional tension of a thriller while leaving the audience guessing who has done what and where. The video featured here is the stunning opening sequence of his debut feature film The Invader which is doing the rounds at the film festival circuit now. Starring Hannelore Knuts and shot on the Italian island Lampedusa, The Invader elaborates upon Provost’s 2004 short film Exoticore which tells the story of an immigrant from Burkino Faso and his attempts to integrate within Western society. And what a welcome it is.
