Francis Alÿs
4 articles
Born on 22 August 1959 in Antwerp, Belgium, Francis Alÿs is an artist whose works cut across many disciplines, including social action, architecture, photography, contemporary conceptualism, and art. He is currently based in Mexico, where he relocated to become an artist, leaving his first calling as an architect in Belgium.
In his practice as an interdisciplinary artist, Alÿs explores the monotony of day-to-day life, as well as geopolitical and anthropological systems. He often pushes the artmaking’s boundaries with works that include public actions, performances, drawings, paintings, videos, and installations.
Some have been featured at institutions like the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Hammer Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tate and the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1995, Francis Alÿs performed a walk holding a leaking can of blue paint in the Brazilian city of São Paulo. That simple walk was then interpreted as a poetic gesture. Nine years later, Alÿs re-enacted that same gesture with a leaking can of green paint. Alÿs’s performance provoked so much attention because the artist […]
Francis Alÿs’s Green Line & 58 liters of paint Read More
Francis Alÿs is known for using poetic and metaphorical techniques to highlight the political and social realities of his city. Often, the issues he addresses range from national border politics to globalism and areas of conflict in his community and the effects of modernism. As one of the most well-known conceptual artists from Mexico, his
Why did Francis Alÿs push a block of ice for 9 hours? Read More
“In 2010, Bangkok erupted in violence with protesters from both the Left and Right, battling the military in the streets. The main weapon on both sides was the tire, both as a barricade and as improvised Molotov cocktail, rolled instead of thrown. In 2015, Rirkrit Tiravanija created an installation, untitled 2015 (bangkok boogie woogie, no.
Our 2018 Art Basel Unlimited top 10 Read More
When Faith Moves Mountains or Cuando la fe mueve montañas was created by artist Francis Alÿs to explain the paradox of life; sometimes people make things that lead to nothing, while sometimes making nothing leads to remarkable things. 500 participants took part In this piece, Alÿs managed to persuade 500 participants made up primarily of
Francis Alÿs – Can faith move a whole mountain? Read More