Alfonso Reyes

Cuauhtémoc Medina

Francis Alÿs

Ton Marar

For the past ten years, video camera in hand, Francis Alÿs has chased tornados in the highlands south of Mexico City, hoping to access and film the literal eye of the storm. This volume, full of scrapbook and ephemera appeal, compiles Alÿs' notes, drawings, paintings, press clippings and writings for his film Tornado.

In a given situation

Licenciado Verdad tells the story of a generation of artists and curators that substantially transformed Mexico's contemporary art scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The title alludes to the now iconic building located on the Calle Licenciado Verdad in Mexico City's historic center, which, for a period of about ten years, cradled the movement. It was there that artists, writers, and curators of the likes of María Guerra, Eloy Tarcisio, Silvia Gruner, Michael Tracy, Thomas Glassford, Melanie Smith, and Francis Alÿs made their homes and studios. Works of art, individual and group exhibitions, parties and gatherings that summoned active personalities of the most diverse kind took place in this building, turning it into a model of production and diffusion of contemporary art. Together with other spaces in the centro histórico, such as Aldo Flores's Salón dès Aztecas or La Casona, under the direction of Guillermo Santamarina, the building on Licenciado Verdad became a platform for the experimentation of new languages in the visual arts. --

contemporary art of the 90s

Groups and spaces in Mexico

Tate Modern (Gallery)

This is an illustrated survey of Francis Alys's entire career. It includes interviews and essays by leading international writers. It also presents descriptions of Alys's work by the man himself, as well as responses from a wide range of critics and commentators."

A Story of Deception

Carlos Monsiváis

El centro histórico de la ciudad de México

Russell Ferguson

This book accompanies the first large-scale museum exhibition in the United States devoted to the work of Francis Alÿs, one of the most acclaimed artists working today. The central focus is Alÿss Rehearsal (Ensayo) series, but a significant number of important related works from throughout Alÿss career are also included. Alÿss video installation Ensayo 1, 19992000, shows a red Volkswagen bug attempting to ascend a steep hill in Tijuana. The cars attempts are synchronized with the soundtrack of a group of Mexican danzon musicians rehearsing. Ensayo 2, 2005, is a video that shows the rehearsal of a dancer practicing a strip-tease. Ensayo 3 will be a new work made by Alÿs specifically for the exhibition and further extending the series. Other works include When Faith Moves Mountains and Song for Lupita; along with paintings, photographs, and numerous drawings. The book, written by Russell Ferguson, organizer of the exhibition, will provide an in-depth exploration of Alÿss oeuvre, and in particular the theme of rehearsal that has run throughout his work, as well as related issues such as repetition, storytelling, and the conditions of performance.

Politics of Rehearsal

Paul De Moor

Francis Alÿs schildert luchtspiegelingen. Hij schildert met alles wat hij in zijn buurt vindt. Met potlood, met verf, met zand, met foto's, met vuilnis, met klei, met schroot, met ijs, met videobeelden, met ... noem maar op. Zijn verhaal begint als een sprookje: een jongen in een landelijk dorp. Zijn lange benen brengen de jongen naar Mexico Stad, en nog verder. Naar de hele wereld. Tot Kaboel toe. Francis Alÿs is misschien de meest dwarse van alle Belgische kunstenaars en geniet wereldfaam. Auteur Paul de Moor tekende het verhaal van Francis Alÿs op. Vormgever Leen Depooter zette het op blad.

schilder van luchtspiegelingen

Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)

On the morning of Sunday, June 23, 2002, 100 participants gathered at The Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan, along with a 12-person Peruvian brass band, and a horse, dogs, and numerous palanquins, atop which sat replicas of three masterpieces from the museum's collection--Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," Duchamp's ready-made "Bicycle Wheel" and a Giacometti--and a living representative of contemporary art, Kiki Smith. Three hours later they ended their procession at the museum's new temporary home, in Queens. Along the way, which ran from 11 West 53 Street, over the Queensboro Bridge, and up Queens Boulevard, the procession absorbed 100 additional participants, and enacted a very public spectacle--part saint's day procession and part secular celebration--of the museum's historic move to MoMA QNS.

The Modern Procession

Klaus Peter Biesenbach

Mark Benjamin Godfrey

Francis Alys, born in Belgium in 1959, is one of the world's leading contemporary artists. After studying architecture in Venice, in 1986 he moved to Mexico City, where he has lived ever since. Alys works at scales ranging from the humblest drawing to the creation of epic events involving hundreds of participants, in media including video, photography, painting and performance. With an introductory essay by Mark Godfrey and comments on over sixty key works by Alys and Cuauhtemoc Medina, this book features a dictionary of quotes from the artist as well as responses to his work from a range of international contributors, including artists, critics, poets and urban theorists.

Susan Buck-Morss

Francis Alys

Cuando la Fe Mueve Montañas

The Sign Painting Project came into being between 1993 and 1997 through a collaboration between Francis Alÿs and professional billboard-painters from Mexico City, particularly Rotulistas Juan Garcia, Enrique Huerta and Emilio Rivera. Alÿs brought the billboard-painters some of his small-format oil paintings and asked them if they would copy and enlarge these motifs. Today the resulting paintings are scattered throughout the world. This book presents the grand scale and multifaceted motifs of the Sign Painting Project for the first time.

Francis Alÿs

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