Francis Alÿs Francis Alÿs : As long as I'm walking

“Published on the occasion of Francis Alÿs’ major exhibition at the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne in 2021, the book is structured around a few essential motifs that characterize the practice of the Belgian-born, Mexico-based artist: his groundbreaking video practice over the past thirty years; the importance of wandering and walking for his artistic method; his interest in children’s games, which he has been filming in different countries since 1999. From urban wandering to the exploration of territories and their borders documented by moving images, Alÿs’ work proposes a poetics of space through brief narratives whose finesse and accuracy explain his reputation. While his work questions the link between artistic act and political intervention, the artist always works by allusion, with remarkable precision and economy of means, preferring poetic polysemy to frontal political commentary, favoring the fusion of imaginary planned spaces with his own fictional spaces. The publication also documents Reel-Unreel, one of Alÿs’s major projects in Afghanistan, including hand-drawn children’s games and animation loops as well as paintings and graphic works.

Lavishly illustrated, edited and introduced by MCBA Lausanne curator Nicole Schweizer, the book includes extensive essays by Julia Bryan-Wilson, Professor of Art History, 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.”