Francis Alÿs

Francis Alÿs (born 1959, Antwerp) is a Belgian artist based in Mexico City whose practice centres on walking, gesture, urban space, and the relationship between minor actions and larger political or social structures. Working across video, painting, drawing, and printed matter, Alÿs uses the city as both medium and subject — tracing lines, pushing blocks of ice, following magnetic north, or organizing collective actions that condense complex histories into simple, repeatable gestures.

His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including Tate Modern, London, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and the Venice Biennale. Key works include When Faith Moves Mountains (2002), The Green Line (2004), and Reel-Unreel (2011). Alÿs’s printed matter — postcards, artist books, and documentation — often functions as a dispersed support for actions, carrying gestures through circulation rather than fixed exhibition.

This collection brings together printed matter and ephemera connected to Alÿs’s practice and performances.

  • 2003 Francis Alÿs Athens postcard. Recto: aerial photograph of dense Athens cityscape, grey residential blocks receding to horizon; below, bilingual typewritten caption in Greek and English: 'a man traces a line as he walks through the city of Athens shooting a flare every 30 steps. Reverse of 2003 Francis Alÿs Athens postcard. Cream stock with standard postcard layout; 'Francis Alÿs / Athens, oct 2003' in small serif type at upper left; dotted stamp box at upper right; five address lines; light age toning and handling marks.

    Francis Alÿs — Athens, Oct 2003 — Artist Postcard

    Francis Alÿs — Athens, Oct 2003 — Artist Postcard