Ismaïl Bahri’s filmic works result from the recording of simple gestures and actions, in which the appearance or evanescence of a form or an image unfolds. Drawing on the fund of images that constitute our collective memory, they also find their roots in the sensitive and subjective experience of everyday life. They translate the vibration of the world as it reveals itself in its most discreet, most minute manifestations, and through it reflect on the image itself, on its coming, on its existence. “Unfolding – the process of what is taking place, what is in existence and in the process of being formed – is a theme in Ismaïl Bahri's films,” writes Jean-Christophe Bailly. Most recently, the artist has explored similar modes of appearance in the field of drawing.
This conversation with Ismaïl Bahri will focus on the close links that exist in his work between the image and the world and will revolve around various motifs that run through his practice, such as the experience of time, attention, appearance and disappearance, nuance, notation and the fragility of the image.
Ismaïl Bahri (b. 1978, Tunis) has recently presented solo exhibitions at Le Forum, Fondation Hermès,Tokyo (2019); Nijo-Jô, Kyoto (2019); La Verrière, Bruxelles (2018); Centre Cultural Porto Seguro, Sao Paulo (2018); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2017). He lives and works in Paris.
Ismaïl Bahri will be in conversation with Christophe Gallois, Curator, Head of Exhibitions at Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, and Tina Gillen, Artist, Teacher and Researcher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. This conversation is organised in the context of the research project Forms of Life, developed by Tina Gillen, Christophe Gallois and a group of students of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, in collaboration with Mudam Luxemboug.
(image Ligne, detail, HD video, 2011, 1 minutes Courtesy Ismaïl Bahri)