Skip navigation

Main menu

  • What's on
  • Art & Artists
    • The Collection
      Artists
      Artworks
      Art by theme
      Media
      Videos
      Podcasts
      Short articles
      Learning
      Schools
      Art Terms
      Tate Research
      Art Making
      Create like an artist
      Kids art activities
      Tate Draw game
  • Visit
  • Shop
Become a Member
  • DISCOVER ART
  • ARTISTS A-Z
  • ARTWORK SEARCH
  • ART BY THEME
  • VIDEOS
  • ART TERMS
  • SCHOOLS
  • TATE KIDS
  • RESEARCH
  • Tate Britain
    Tate Britain Free admission
  • Tate Modern
    Tate Modern Free admission
  • Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
    Tate Liverpool + RIBA North Free admission
  • Tate St Ives
    Tate St Ives Ticket or membership card required
  • FAMILIES
  • ACCESSIBILITY
  • SCHOOLS
  • PRIVATE TOURS
Tate Logo
Become a Member
Tate Modern Exhibition

Francis Alÿs

15 June – 5 September 2010
Francis Alys A Story of Deception exhibition banner

A man pushes a massive block of ice through the streets of Mexico City until it melts to nothing. Five hundred volunteers walk over a huge sand dune in Lima, Peru, digging with spades and shifting the dune a few centimetres as they go. These are the works of the celebrated artist Francis Alÿs (born Belgium, 1959), and the subject of a major exhibition at Tate Modern.

Alÿs’s work starts with a simple action, either by him or others, which is then documented in a range of media. Alÿs explores subjects such as modernising programmes in Latin America and border zones in areas of conflict, often asking about the relevance of poetic acts in politicised situations. He has used video projection and film but also spreads his ideas through postcards. Painting and drawing remain central to his work too.

Alÿs moved to Mexico City in the mid 1980s at a time of political unrest, and lives there now. He began to make work which recorded everyday life, for example making slide works showing people sleeping on the streets or pushing mobile shopping stalls. Alÿs also makes works around the world. In The Green Line 2004, Alÿs walked along the 1948 armistice line between Israel and Palestine, trailing a line of green paint behind him, and provoking commentaries on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

This exhibition is his most comprehensive to date. It features many works unseen in Britain, such as When Faith Moves Mountains 2002 as well as premiering the major new work Tornado 2000–10.

Tate Modern

Bankside
London SE1 9TG
Plan your visit

Dates

15 June – 5 September 2010

Find out more

  • Francis Alÿs in collaboration with Rafael Ortega and Artangel Guards 2004–5

    Telling stories with a life of their own

    Edward Platt

    His projects have included pushing a block of ice around Mexico City until it melted, letting a fox loose in the National Gallery, London, at night and persuading 500 Peruvians to move a giant sand dune by shovel. He has worked with a wide variety of media such as painting, video projection, animation and sculpture to produce art that can seem as ephemeral as it is poetic. Francis Alÿs sees himself akin to a story-teller: “If the story is right, if it hits a nerve, it can propagate like a rumour.” Tate Etc. explores his work on the eve of his retrospective at Tate Modern.

  • Francis Alÿs Guards 2004

    Lightbox: Francis Alÿs

    Lightbox: Francis Alÿs at Tate Britain 3 July – 5 September 2010

  • Artist

    Francis Alÿs

    born 1959
Artwork
Close

Join in

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Sign up to emails

Sign up to emails

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tate’s privacy policy

About

  • About us
  • Our collection
  • Terms and copyright
  • Governance
  • Picture library
  • ARTIST ROOMS
  • Tate Kids

Support

  • Tate Collective
  • Members
  • Patrons
  • Donate
  • Corporate
  • My account
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Contact
© The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery, 2025
All rights reserved