Ângela Ferreira @ Stills, until 27 Oct

Ângela Ferreira’s show Political Cameras is dominated by a number of fashionable structures; skeletal forms constructed from stripped wood adorned with trimmings of Perspex, rubber and tastefully-finished metal. The first of three sections centred around Mozambique (the artist’s country of birth) takes as its starting point the work of cinéma vérité founder and anthropologist, Jean Rouch. The work carried out by Rouch is fascinating in itself. It is difficult, however, to appreciate exactly what the function of the trendily asymmetric plinths that support the videos is supposed to be.

The second section, presenting new work commissioned by Stills gallery, takes the less esoteric starting point of David Livingstone (of both ‘Dr. Livingstone. I presume?’ and, perhaps more pertinently, Scotland). It centres around a version of Livingstone’s portable bed, rendered here as a chic, top-heavy sunlounger composed from the aforementioned stripped wood and Perspex. Screened on the orange Perspex that angles above the sunlounger is a film about a more recent British expedition, Kew Gardens’ 2008 excursion to the 'lost forest' of Mount Mabu in northern Mozambique, from which this new work takes its title. The quirky viewing setup both tints the video orange and makes viewing the film a relative challenge. The seemingly idiosyncratic choice of The Ronettes, providing a soundtrack for those sections where the artist chooses to again literally spell out the context of the film, is one of the more entertaining aspects of the show.

Downstairs in the film lounge a selection of Ferreira’s earlier work is being played. The enjoyably out of focus untitled film from 1998 shows Ferreira performing an aerobics routine in front of Mozambique’s national stadium. It is difficult not to see this as an apt metaphor for this well-meaning but ultimately hollow show. [J.D.A. Winslow]