Walking as an Art Form. The Work of Francis Alÿs

Can artistic interventions create a context for change? This is the question that visual artist Francis Alÿs asks himself. In his work the essence lies often in a transient action (such as a walk in the streets), which leaves behind no piece of art except for a film recording and some documentation. This immaterial manner of working is a theme that runs right through the oeuvre of Alÿs, who was born Francis De Smedt in Antwerp in 1959, trained as an architect and architectural historian in Doornik and Venice, and moved to Mexico in 1986 as a volunteer on a construction project.