Revers

Overview

Ismaïl Bahri’s experiments with moving image explore notions of duration, scale, visibility and resolution. The artist’s work is grounded in a certain formal and conceptual ‘short-sightedness’, which dictates the selection and portrayal of his subject matter; meaning often comes from a place out of focus or beyond the image’s frame of reference. Deriving inspiration from everyday interaction and behaviour, he employs what he calls a ‘capture device’ to record common gestures in video, photography and sound. Both an observer and a meanderer in his practice, Bahri reveals the transience of these references and ultimately discloses the fleeting nature of each event and experience.

Through the simple, repetitive process of crumpling a page from a magazine, Revers (2016) contemplates notions of disintegration, reproduction, transmutation and, centrally, impermanence. The video repeats the crumpling and subsequent straightening of the pages, highlighting a ceaseless cycle. As each page is slowly crumpled time and again, the imagery fades, and we are left with the imprint on the artist’s hands—the result of repetitive contact and the residual transfer and accumulation of energy and information.

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 13.