Francis Alÿs and the possibilities for creating in the contemporary metropolis

• Grant number: 12/04195-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2012
• End date: June 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Landscaping
• Principal Investigator: Vera Maria Pallamin
• Grantee: Clara Barzaghi de Laurentiis
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project asks for new modes of perception of space and landscape, focusing on Francis Alÿs' poetic visual (1959 -); the artist was born in Belgium and currently lives in the federal capital of Mexico; His artistic production discusses the condition of Mexico City, common to other Latin American metropolises, and is characterized by spatial practices that enable new forms of relationship with the city, breaking the system of signs about modern cities' organization. The creative process of Alÿs has as one of its main features the act of walking the city, which allows interaction with the urban space in a micro-sphere, so that the city becomes the object key in creating a field of stimuli and effects and, consequently, new spaces. The artist finds in the metropolis a space of possibilities for the creation of an imagery city, not guided by the rationality of planning, creating moves that escape the logic of institutionalized cities. Therefore, this research will focus on understanding Alÿs' artistic production, in the contemporary art world context, while active potency in creating new forms of relationship with space. (AU)