NOIRE

Five people are filmed standing on a stage while making the Christian-Orthodox sign of the cross, repetitively, following the techno music beat. What is in fact striking in Nikolic’s powerful video work Rhythm from 2001 is that it brings its viewers back to one of the first ideological formulas, which was written in the 18th Century by Blaise Pascal: “Kneel down, move your lips in prayer, and you will believe”. Ideology is in material practices, it resides in bodies and their rituals, and Nikolic renders these rituals redundant.