The video work of Ismail Bahri is characterized by minimalist grammar: no sound, or very little, no editing, a fixed frame, a simple scene. They have a photographic aspect inspired not by documentary language but by an ordinary phenomenon simultaneously experimented by the artist. He is the observer and the performer of the unfolding scene. The actor is the event itself, an irrepressible actor who reveals his story by bits and pieces, imposing his rhythm. This rhythm, often slow, comes from an acceptance of the phenomenon of his weaknesses, pauses and visual silences that allow the image to reveal – to rise, according to Daniel Arasse’s definition. It is the event and its result that determines timing and use of video. Movement and action are introduced by clues and create the basis for questioning still pictures. The hand trembling in “Orientations”, the rocking paper in “Film”, the movement of the string in “Dénouement”, the spark coming and going in “Attraction” are all signs of time’s passing. Real time – drastically shortened in photography and fictionalized in cinema – is revealed here with simplicity. A formal simplicity that reflects the process. A controlled, repeated, sharpened process. With, as always, a bit of the unexpected. The resulting fragmented visions and visual whispers invite to an attentive look at our environment.
Ismail Bahri “Précipités”
May 4th – June 16th, 2012
17 Rue Filles du Calvaire
75003 Paris
T : +33 (0)1 42 74 47 05
