Ismaïl Bahri + James Benning + Ralitsa Doncheva + Miriam Sampaio

As if on the periphery of the gaze, because often what commands our attention is located outside the frame, the work of Ismaïl Bahri, James Benning, Ralitsa Doncheva and Miriam Sampaio carefully documents the occupation of a site which, for reasons both personal and political, is the only witness, even the sole legatee, of past or future events, giving form to an exile either desired or imposed, permanent or temporary.

Dénouement (2011) shows an image with the appearance of a blank page, split in two by a black line agitated by small vibrations. Slowly, with minimal depth of field reduced to the centre of the image, a snowy landscape is revealed in which a standing figure in the distance is drawn towards us by a string. Gradually the background completely obliterates the space of the landscape, leaving only an image of string and hands overlapping. This final knot at the conclusion of Dénouement is a fine demonstration of how every representation contains unsuspected temporal spaces or hidden details – but can also infer that a rapprochement is possible between all things.