Orientations, 2010
Video HDV 20'
The work of Ismaïl Bahri (Tunisia, 1978) incorporates various cultural references to develop several visual experiments. The results of these experiments adopt different forms, from drawings to videos and installations, always hybrid. The materials that he uses are always manipulated and finally modified, usually, by means of mechanic gestures and procedures that, somehow, are related with image. In Orientations, 2010, for instance, the artista films a walk through Tunisia with a glass full of liquid in his hand, where the light reflects different landscapes. This way, he questions how art is permeable to reality.
Ismaïl Bahri has presented his work in venues like Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Cinémathèque de Tanger, Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, British Film Institute in London, Fondazione Mertz in Turin or Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. He has also taken part in several festivals such as Cinemed Festival International Méditerranéen de France, Panorama des Cinémas du Maghreb, or Videoformes in Clermont-Ferrand. Some of his works have been compiled by the label Lowave.