This group exhibition highlights the living memories of the art center through a fertile dialogue between works by artists from different generations, within the newly reconfigured spaces of the two factories: Le Creux de l’Enfer and Le May. In this way, works by major figures on the international art scene sit alongside those of younger artists, created as part of residencies in Thiers or around the world. The exhibition IN VIVO rekindles powerful past experiences in light of the questions that permeate today’s artistic expressions. It showcases the driving forces of the art center—a place of commitment and constant reinvention—that have animated the Vallée des Usines for forty years.
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Ismaïl Bahri
Fellow
2023 - 2024
Visual arts
Biography
Ismaïl Bahri (Tunisia, 1978) uses video, drawing, sculpture and sound without specialization. He positions himself as an observer, setting up a device for capturing gestures and empirical experimentation, paying attention to “what happens”. His work is interested in the meaning that emerges at the periphery of the gaze, in the presence of the surrounding world that outcrops and reveals its presence. Ismaïl Bahri’s work has been shown at the Jeu de Paume (Paris), the Reina Sofia Museum (Madrid), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), La Criée (Rennes), La Verrière (Brussels), the Beirut Art Center (Beirut) and the Staatliche Kunsthalle (Karlsruhe). His films have been selected for festivals such as TIFF (Toronto), NYFF (New York), IFFR (Rotterdam) and FID (Marseille).
Project
At Villa Medici, Ismaïl Bahri aims to develop research based on Lucretius’ De rerum natura (On the nature of things). This poem serves as a starting point for sculptural, graphic and, above all, filmic experiments. Between studio investigations and outdoor quests, the residency opens up a time of fermentation conducive to the daily observation of natural phenomena. In direct contact with the elements, the empirical methodology proposed by the poem will activate various avenues of research and invention.
At Villa Medici
See the complete programAfter residency
Fellows
2025 - 2026
Medici Residency Occitanie
Application 23.02 - 01.04.2026
Created in 2018 by the Occitanie Region in partnership with the French Academy in Rome - Villa Medici, the Price Occitanie - Medici dedicated to young contemporary creation aims to develop the international influence of talent from Occitanie by welcoming them to the Villa Medici for a research and creative stay of several months. Each year, the price attracts around a hundred candidates - visual and visual artists - eager to take advantage of the opportunity offered by a residency at one of Europe's most emblematic art centers, in contact with other artists from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds. Each year, the winner of the Price Occitanie - Medici is selected on the basis of an application and an audition of the shortlisted candidates, each of whom presents his or her project to a jury made up of representatives of the Region, the Director of Villa Medici and associated experts.