“Impermanence lies at the heart of the work of the Franco-Tunisian artist Ismaïl Bahri. Placing a sheet of wind-tossed paper in front of his camera lens, slowing down falling water drops by making them slide along a thread, observing the reflection of the city in a glass filled with ink held in his hand as he walks along: Ismaïl Bahri makes elementary and empirical gestures and pays attention to “what is happening”, and what effect these operations will have on him. The artist positions himself as an observer; he gropes around, and talks of “shortsightedness” in relation to his work. He then sets up what he calls a “capture device” for these gestures, usually using video, but also photography and sound, without any specialization. It is quite often outside of the frame of the image that meaning emerges, in the perceptible presence of the surrounding world, which is suddenly revealed.” (François Piron)