The kissing precise

«There is something analogous to this scientific and fictional proliferation in fatmi's work, in his use of different supports, in his back and forth movements between different themes, his outlined, reprised or abandoned narratives. In a way, we could say that he appropriates the enigmatic discovery of a form of energy that seems inexhaustible but also uncontrollable - except that in his case the subject is a metaphorical equivalent of the nuclear, namely, desire and the irresistible attraction that it triggers. But then is the difference really so great? What matters, indeed, in both instances, is the moment of unleashing, the moment that is not a moment, between the before and the after - an imminence, you might say, that is to say, a time-space without real consistency, without real duration. What comes next is a form of unfolding, with its options and possible narrative trajectories. Before the reaction is triggered, before the lips touch and nothing is the same as before. Such is the kiss in the works of the "Casablanca Circles" series. It is a catastrophe, a rupture, the almost unassignable moment whereby everything changes. The beauty of the thing is that this around this impalpable non-moment so many expectations and narrative possibilities are precipitated. Countless underground connections appear, crossovers, secret coincidences, so that in this work there hovers a subtle perfume of paranoia.»

Régis Durand