ART 125 / FIST 318 Francis Alys' lines

Sometimes we need to think about how lines on paper translate to life on the street. This photo shows Alÿs carrying a dripping can of green paint along the armistice boundary that Moshe Dayan marked on a map with green pencil after Israel’s War of Independence ended in 1948. It questions the physicality and cultural relevance of the Green Line, its function as a social and spiritual division in the city of Jerusalem, and its role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

Sometimes form is created simply by the act of walking, as in this poignant and gorgeous 1997 film by Alys;

 

Francis Alÿs Cuentos Patrióticos, 1997 

"In his wanderings through his adopted home country of Mexico, Belgian artist Francis Alÿs (b. 1959) addresses the topic of urban power structures – for instance, in his film Cuentos Patrioticos, which plays out on the Zócalo, Mexico City’s main square. The square was laid out by the Spanish conquistadors as an emblem of their victory over the Aztecs and has repeatedly been the scene of demonstrations of power. In Alÿs’ film Cuentos Patrioticos we see a man taking a sheep on a lead in a circle around the large flagpole on Zócalo square. With every ring of the bell more sheep join the bellwether. Sheep are gregarious animals and accordingly, at the sight of the strange parade on this square so steeped in history, the automatic temptation is to see them as blind followers. In his film Cuentos Patrioticos Alÿs is referencing a real event which took place here in 1968. At the height of the political unrest thousands of civil servants were forced to demonstrate for the government on this central square in the Mexican metropolis. In an act both subversive and, at the same time, humorous, the civil servants rebelled against this directive in the following way: Although they did flock to the square, they turned their backs on the government platform and bleated like sheep. A framed text chosen by the artist and a postcard referring to the events are part of the work and are exhibited alongside the film." 

-- from YouTube post