Below is a review I wrote of Re-enactments a video by Francis Alys. The piece is on exhibit through August 1 at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Hope you enjoy it and if you think it's good enough to post on ArtHash then I'd be honored.
JD Siazon
NYC-based artist & writer
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On Blast In The Twilight Zone
Francis Alys (b. Belgium, 1959) shows a severe lack of prudence with his two-channel video Re-enactments (2001). Made with his longtime collaborator Rafael Ortega the artwork comments on "how media can distort and dramatize the immediate reality of a moment" says Alys. Considered a recent major acquisition by The Museum of Modern Art the piece will be on view at MoMA through August 1 as part of a retrospective on Alys' work called "A Story of Deception."
Buying a semi-automatic handgun in his home of Mexico City Alys then cocks the loaded weapon and proceeds to perambulate downtown midday streets for somewhere around 11 minutes until he is arrested by a group of policemen in a parking area.
The left side of the two-channel video depicts actual moments from the event and on the right side reenacted scenes performed the day following.
Under the auspices of art, Francis Alys puts countless lives in danger with his stunt. To view his act as more than that reflects a disassociating double standard in art which by far makes incomprehensible much to the layman.
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