Francis Alÿs: The Storyteller and the Endless Narrative

The Tate Modern in London is hosting a major exhibition of Francis Alÿs, running until September 5, 2010, before traveling to Wiels in Brussels (from October 9, 2010) and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2011). The show is organized in collaboration with the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, where it was previously on view. Alÿs, born in Antwerp in 1959 and based in Mexico since 1986, is known for his performative works that explore repetition, circularity, and the avoidance of conclusion. His practice often involves re-enacting actions in different contexts, as seen in The Green Line (2004), a reprise of The Leak (1995) from São Paulo, where he walked along the 1949 UN-established armistice line in Jerusalem, painting it green. Other key works include When Faith Moves Mountains (2002), where 500 students moved a sand dune in Lima, and the film series Rehearsals (1999-2004), featuring a Volkswagen Beetle struggling up a hill. Alÿs's work emphasizes storytelling over object-making, drawing on oral tradition and the figure of the narrator as described by Walter Benjamin. His projects often involve collaboration, such as the Sign-Painters Project (1993-1997) with Mexican sign painters. The exhibition also includes the video Bolero (Shoeshine blues), a nine-minute animation of a shoe being polished, and the ongoing Tornado series, where Alÿs runs into dust devils. His collection of Fabiola portraits, by Jean-Jacques Henner, was shown at the Dia Art Foundation in 2007.