Francis Alÿs: As Long as I'm Walking
Edited by Nicole Schweizer. Text by Julia Bryan-Wilson, Luis Pérez-Oramas, Judith Rodenbeck.
An art of play, pedestrianism, and participation: on Alys abiding beliefs
Published to accompany a major solo exhibition by Francis Alÿs (born 1959) at the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne in 2021, this monograph presents an overview of the Belgian-born artist’s work in video, painting and drawing, with special emphasis on a central theme of his practice, the act of walking. At the intersection of art, architecture and social practice, his artworks explore urban tensions and the geopolitical stakes of the spaces he explores. From urban strolls to exploring territories and their borders, Alÿs chronicles everyday rituals, habits and experiences through poetic films and works on paper. Among the many projects highlighted in this publication are Alÿs' works related to his Afghan experience and his Children's Games series in which the imaginary spaces of childhood join the artist's poetics of space. Edited and introduced by MCBA Lausanne curator Nicole Schweizer, the book features essays by Julia Bryan-Wilson, Professor of History of Art, University of California, Berkeley; Luis Pérez-Oramas, independent curator and writer, New York; and Judith Rodenbeck, Associate Professor, Department of Media and Cultural Studies, University of California, Riverside.
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Publisher: JRP|Editions
Artists: Francis Alÿs
Publication Date: 2022
Binding: Paperback
Dimensions: 9.5 × 11.25 in
Pages: 160 pages
ISBN: 9783037645727
Retail: $55
Status: Not Available
Francis Alÿs
Francis Alÿs’s art is centered around observations of, and engagements with, everyday life. His multifaceted projects include public actions, installations, videos, paintings, and drawings; the artist himself has described his work as “a sort of discursive argument composed of episodes, metaphors, or parables.” Across these different media, Alÿs presents his distinct poetic and imaginative sensibility towards anthropological and political concerns. His actions have involved traveling the longest possible route between locations in Mexico and the United States to highlight the increasing obstacles imposed along the border; pushing a melting block of ice through city streets; commissioning sign painters to copy his paintings; filming his efforts to enter the center of a tornado; carrying a leaking can of paint along the contested Israel/Palestine border; and equipping hundreds of volunteers to move a colossal sand dune ten centimeters.