The New Rare
Francis Alÿs — Athens, Oct 2003 — Artist Postcard
Francis Alÿs — Athens, Oct 2003 — Artist Postcard
- Artist
- Francis Alÿs
- Issued by
- The New Rare
- Place & year
- Athens, 2003
- Type
- Postcard
- Format
- Offset print on coated card stock
- Size
- 14.5 × 10.5 cm
- Condition
- Good vintage condition: light edge wear, faint age toning, and minor handling marks.
- Register
- TNR-2026-0206 · 15 June 2026
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Shipping: UK £7, free over £50 · Europe £18 · US & Canada £25 · Rest of world £30.
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Notes
Athens, October 2003
Postcard documenting a conceptual action by Francis Alÿs produced in Athens in October 2003. Captioned in Greek and English: “a man traces a line as he walks through the city of Athens shooting a flare every 30 steps.”
The work condenses several recurring Alÿs concerns into postcard form: walking as drawing, the city as surface, repetition as measure, and the temporary gesture translated into portable documentation. The aerial image of Athens reads almost like static until interrupted by the text beneath it — action reduced to a single typed sentence.
The reverse remains nearly empty apart from the artist’s name and date. Not an invitation and not exactly a conventional artwork reproduction either. More a dispersed support: a minor printed object carrying an action through circulation.
Shipping and handling included.
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