From the series In a Given Situation, 2016
The work of Francis Alÿs is based on actions proposed or practiced by the artist that unfold into videos, photographs, drawings, and paintings. Often evoking a feeling of absurdity or unreason, his works critically research political, social, and economic situations in contemporary life. The installation conceived for the 32nd Bienal is organized into three moments and investigates the notion of catastrophe in a series of drawings of mental schemes, phenomena and ideas entitled In a Given Situation (2010-2016); landscape paintings and animated film, all Untitled (2016). These elements are installed on the back of other images, facing mirrored walls, set at a degree of inclination. The reflected images of the public, the pavilion, and the park, also become an integral part of the project, which invites us to question our relationship – and the institutional and urban environment in which we operate – to the different situations and notions of catastrophe discussed by Alÿs.