ART-PREVIEW:Francis Alÿs-Le temps du sommeil
Francis Alÿs’s work is centered around observations of, and engagements with, everyday life. His multifaceted projects include public actions, installations, videos, paintings, and drawings. Across these different media, Alÿs presents his distinct poetic and imaginative sensibility towards anthropological and political concerns.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Secession Vienna Archive
In “Le temps du sommeil”, his solo exhibition at Secession in Vienna, Francis Alÿs presents two bodies of works. At first the artist presents “Le Temps du Sommeil” (1996- ), a series of works that gives the exhibition’s title. The series currently comprises 111 small-scale paintings. Accompanied by instructions and postcards which resemble a diary, the work relates in an oblique way to visions of games and exercises seen in many of his actions and films. They depict miniature scenes and often look like snapshots of simple gestures and activities that, upon closer inspection, appear to be fairly absurd. A man in a gray suit is the protagonist in many of these tableaux, sometimes joined by other actors in similar outfits, while a few pictures also feature a woman, often in a red dress. Francis Alÿs’ works often begin as simple actions performed by himself or volunteers, which are recorded in photographs, film, and other means of documentation such as postcards. Many of his projects are generated during the artist’s “walks,” or paseos, in which he traverses city streets. In the second part of the exhibition are shown two films: “Paradox of Praxis 1 (Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing)” (1997), Alÿs pushed a block of ice through the streets of Mexico City until it completely melted. And so for hour after hour he struggled with the quintessentially Minimal rectangular block until finally it was reduced to no more than an ice cube, so small that he could casually kick it along the street. And “Paradox of Praxis 5, Ciudad Juárez, México (Sometimes we dream as we live and we live as we dream)” (2013), Alÿs attempts to enact the aphorism expressed in the work’s title, and in doing so problematizes the idea of trying to create something beautiful in the face of a terrible situation. Here, Alÿs kicks a flaming soccer ball through Ciudad Juárez at night. His path is illuminated only by the light from the fire, which he must strike with his foot in order to proceed. The darkness of the night provides a veil for the city’s ever-present problems, including the sale of drugs, prostitution, and police indifference, which are only momentarily glimpsed along his route.
Info: Curator: Bettina Spörr, Secession-Association of Visual Artists, Friedrichstraße 12, Vienna, Duration: 18/11/16-22/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, www.secession.at
