Détail se dilate

Détail se dilate presents a selection of works all derived from experiments that shape various simple elements, most of which were created in Tunisia. The videos and installations are used to capture experiences while visually presenting the terms of different enigmas.

The installation is also structured around multiple spatial and temporal markers. Pulsations, vibrations, sedimentations, and flows punctuate the journey, while the in situ installations aim to blur the boundaries of the gallery space.

Line

At first glance, this video seems like a still image. Only one details moves : a drop of water placed exactly where the pulse palpitates to the body's internal rhythm. The one-minute video is shown on a loop and seems to have no beginning or end. What it shows teeters on the edge of a possible tipping point. The organic temporality of this pulsation will set the tempo for the entire exhibition.

Dénouement

Following this organic pulsation, the vibrations captured in Dénouement come next. This video depicts the simple act of winding a thread around itself. For most of the video, this gesture remains off-screen and unseen. It reveals itself to us along this thread, which becomes a sensitive probe, a tool for remote touch, eventually appearing and coming to us. Beyond the gesture's experimentation, the relationship between the body and the landscape gradually becomes clear. As the body approaches, the landscape takes shape, becoming deep, and the forming knot eventually illustrates the traversed distance. As the thread winds around itself, the film unfolds to its conclusion: the revelation of the explored gesture and the space that supports it.

Coulée douce

The thread and the drop of water reappear in the installation in the patio. A cotton sewing thread is connected to a container filled with water. Through a slow drip, water droplets progress along the thread by capillary action. The thread diverts the falling path of the droplets, whose weight produces vibrations and undulations of varying amplitudes. In Coulée douce, the sewing thread becomes a sensitive capturing element as well as an instrument of fine dosage. The micro-phenomenon being explored and the unwound thread are almost imperceptible in the space. The whole challenge of this piece lies in the resonance created between the fragile and acute precision of what is given to observe and the rest of the exhibition space. The relationship to space is all the more important since the container is placed on a window on the first floor, opening onto the storage area where other artists' works are kept. Thus, the gallery space is utilized beyond the limits of the exhibition rooms to include what would be the invisible backstage.

Film

The video series titled Film comes from a simple experiment with newspaper. Like magic, rolled-up fragments of newspaper break free from the gesture that formed them and unfold on a black surface. This wet ink surface allows the newspaper to move. As the ink soaks into the paper fibers, it expands, making the newspaper come alive and revealing the images and words it contains. This series was created during a time of significant upheaval in the Arab countries. The context is explored through a slow process of appearance and emergence, similar to the mechanics of a moving film reel. What we see are fragments of information—hints and incomplete traces of events that happen and quickly fade away.

Latence

The Latence series of drawings features overlapping translucent bubbles. As the ink mixed with a bit of milk evaporates, it leaves behind a thin layer of coagulated liquid, creating a barely visible halo. These drawings are considered latent images because they take time to reveal themselves. The drawing process is slow, waiting for the material to evaporate and show its lines. These lines act as slow markers of time. The longer it takes to create a drawing, the more the lines accumulate. Each piece holds the time it took to come into being.

Percée

The video installation Percée is a work specifically developed for the exhibition, designed with the venue's architecture in mind. While the other pieces tend to operate on a smaller scale, here, an entire wall becomes a surface for appearance and disappearance. At first glance, the room seems completely empty until a shadow starts to rise. The wall appears to tremble and opens up to reveal an urban landscape. The placement of this video is significant. The exhibition journey culminates in this opening, leading fictively to a potential elsewhere and a certain form of reality. This landscape is particularly meaningful when considering the urban context of the gallery. We are no longer in the smooth, touristy streets of Sidi Bou Said, but in a setting that could represent any city in Tunisia.

Ligne fantôme

An intervention in the space takes the form of an ephemeral installation spread across various spots in the gallery as well as in different corners of the village of Sidi Bou Said. These installations use sewing pins to "stitch" shadows. Here, the exploration focuses on cosmic, astral time. Depending on the sunlight that gently touches the walls, a pin is planted, and its shadow is extended by another pin, forming a line of shadow. This gesture aims to align with the movement of the sun, revealing a luminous atmosphere and the space it occupies. As the sun moves, the line gradually disintegrates, disappearing at night and reappearing the next day around the same time. This action also allows the exhibition to extend beyond the gallery's walls, expanding its presence outside its original frame. The exhibition exists here and elsewhere simultaneously, until the pins eventually fall; until the exhibition runs its course.

Ismaïl Bahri 
Tunis, June 2014