A Brief History of Francis Alys

A short documentary on Mexico City based, Belgian Artist, Francis Alys. Born in Herfelingen, Belgium as Francis de Smedt. Studied in Tournai and Venice, then moved to Mexico City and took the name Alys. He exhibited in Brussels, London, Marrakech, Chicago, Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Buenos Aires, Lima, Wolfsburg, Avignon, Rome, Zurich, Madrid, New York, Vancouver and Beirut. He practices architecture, performance art, videos, photography, writing, painting, animation and more. His works explore the tension between politics and poetics. At first sight, some of his works might seem useless, like cutting a painting in half, provoking a dog, running into a tornado, trying to make a bridge of children over the Straight of Gibraltar, driving into a tree, throwing water from the Black Sea into the Red Sea, painting median stripes, kicking a burning ball and visualising silence. Artworks included in the art doc, among others, are The Green Line, Paseos, The Seven Walks (with Artangle), The Nightwatch, Children's Games, Paradox of Praxis, El Ensayo, Median Stripes, When Faith Moves Mountains, Set Theory and The Fabiola Project. Francis Alys, architect of the absurd. After the art doc "A Brief History of John Baldessari"