Francis Alys | Biography, Art, Green Line, & Facts | Britannica

Francis Alÿs (born August 22, 1959, Antwerp, Belgium) Belgian-born Mexico-based conceptual artist who used a variety of new and more-traditional media to evoke an often poetic sense of dislocation on social and political issues. Alÿs was raised in Herfelingen in Belgium, where his father was an appeals court justice. Trained as an architect at the Institute of Architecture in Tournai, Belgium (1978–83), and at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura in Venice (1983–86), Alÿs first traveled to Mexico City in 1986 as part of a Belgian effort to assist in rebuilding projects following the catastrophic earthquakes of 1985. Over the next several years, Alÿs moved toward art making, relishing its freedom and flexibility, and decided to remain in Mexico. For personal and political reasons and to further distance himself from Belgium and his previous activities, he adopted the surname “Alÿs” at that time. Some of Alÿs’s early art projects derived from his continual exploration of Mexico Cit

Francis Alÿs (born August 22, 1959, Antwerp, Belgium) Belgian-born Mexico-based conceptual artist who used a variety of new and more-traditional media to evoke an often poetic sense of dislocation on social and political issues. Alÿs was raised in Herfelingen in Belgium, where his father was an appeals court justice. Trained as an architect at the Institute of Architecture in Tournai, Belgium (1978–83), and at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura in Venice (1983–86), Alÿs first traveled to Mexico City in 1986 as part of a Belgian effort to assist in rebuilding projects following the cata