Francis Alÿs

Francis Alÿs (1959) is Belgian by origin but has lived in Mexico City for over twenty years. He sees his work as a subjective analysis of the South-American stance regarding “the concept of production, the dogma of efficiency and the promises of development”.

A story of Deception, Patagonia (2003-2006) came into being during a trip through Argentina’s southern region, not long after the country was hit by an economic crisis in 2003, at a moment “when society realised it had hit rock bottom and there was no way but up”. In this laconic film, the “headlong rush” becomes a metaphor embodying the search for illusion, an “infinite experience of fleetingness”. (Alÿs)