ARTIST RESEARCH: Francis Alÿs

Francis Alÿs is a Belgian artist. Many of his works involve intense observation and recording of the social, cultural and economic conditions of particular places, usually conceived during walks through urban areas. Citing walking as the centre of his practice, for his first performance 'The Collector' (1991), he dragged a small magnetic toy dog on wheels through Mexico City so it attracted debris to it. I personally believe that this piece is a social comment on Mexico's wealth at the time; depicting the idea that people will look and take anything that can be used to help support them as they are desperate (Desperate enough that even small scraps will be suffice).

In his best-known work, 'When Faith Moves Mountains' (2002), Alÿs recruited 500 volunteers in Ventanilla district outside of Lima, Peru.Each person moved a shovel full of sand one step at a time from one side of a dune to the other, and together they moved the entire geographical location of the dune by a few inches. This piece to me is symbolic of inner faith and self belief. The fact that only 500 people were given the ability to move an enormous sand dune is incredible – staying true to the well know saying 'Faith Moves Mountains'.

The work, Paradox of Praxis 1 (Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing), documents an action performed on the streets of Mexico City in 1997. The film depicts a simple and seemingly pointless endeavour - a large block of ice being pushed through the city streets for 9 hours until it melts away to nothing. I think that this work looks at the idea of letting go and us as humans refusing to give in even when failure is inevitable. We can work extremely hard towards our dreams and aspirations only to fall at the last hurdle. I feel that this piece was designed to make the audience think about themselves in relation to this concept.

Frances Alÿs' work is relevant to my project and I plan on working in this medium (performance art) during my project.