In “Lessons in Futility: Francis Alys and the Legacy of May ‘68”, the author Grant Kester focuses his attention towards one of Francis Alys’s work, When Faith Moves Mountains. In the beginning of the article, I expected Kester to dive right into his analysis about Alys’s work but found a lengthy introduction along with an explanation of the May ’68 event, which did not assist my understanding of the connection to Alys’s When Faith Moves Mountains; the only information that I retained from the first two sections was the negative view towards collective or collaborative experiences: “It is precisely when we come together (in collective forms of action and identity) that we are most at risk of succumbing to our instrumentalising nature” (413). Does Kester mean that collective works in the end bring out a sense of selfishness in the individual?
Kester then applies this concept to Alys’s When Faith Moves Mountains (2002) with a statement that the artist’s intention was not geared towards the concept of teamwork but to display the failure of modernization of Mexico and throughout Latin America: “Although the video includes comments by several (unidentified) student volunteers, Alys’s installation does little to convey the nature of their participation, or their particular investment in the Sisyphean task that he has assigned them. They have been summoned by Alys not as collaborators but as bodies to illustrate a ‘social allegory’ about the inevitable failure of Latin America to modernize successfully” (414). It was interesting to find out that the entire work was “staged” or in other terms, given “careful attention…to the visual staging of the event” (417). After reading the other two articles, “Walking the Line” and “A Walk in the Invisible City”, I assumed that this piece was created through the true efforts of a group collaboration, where students volunteered because they wanted to take part of an artistic event, not because they were asked to do so. Despite the artist’s effort to display the failures of collaborative works through this piece, I felt that the piece itself could have brought more impact towards its viewers if the artist (or the author) himself never stated that it was staged.
In "Lessons in Futility: Francis Alys and the Legacy of May '68", Grant Kester highlights the work "When Faith Moves Mountains" by artist Francis Alys. According to Jester, Alys proves that "while faith cannot be bought it can apparently be strongly encouraged" (419). Alys has student volunteers help him carry out this project, having them literally move a mountain in a rural area outside the capital of Peru. The piece leaves much to discuss. Topics from the modernization of Latin America, to the resistance of it, to free labor and unused labor, poverty, and the displacement of peoples as big cities grow. There was also much to consider for this piece, as the artist and the writer of the article point out. From those possibly affected by the work (the nearby inhabitants, to the way the piece was executed, to where it was executed and for what purpose. What stands out to me after reading this article and watching the documentation of the piece is that there doesn't seem to be a real purpose to this work other than the slight proof that "faith moves mountains" - the mountain which is actually a dune only moves a few centimeters. I was imagining that a whole, actual mountain would be moving. Nonetheless, the action of gathering the volunteers and the action makes me recall actions by indigenous Peruvians, working collaboratively as they did for this project, like they did to sustain their lifestyles before colonization. This is another theme or topic that this work provokes.
In “Lessons in Futility: Francis Alys and the Legacy of May ‘68”, the author Grant Kester focuses his attention towards one of Francis Alys’s work, When Faith Moves Mountains. In the beginning of the article, I expected Kester to dive right into his analysis about Alys’s work but found a lengthy introduction along with an explanation of the May ’68 event, which did not assist my understanding of the connection to Alys’s When Faith Moves Mountains; the only information that I retained from the first two sections was the negative view towards collective or collaborative experiences: “It is precisely when we come together (in collective forms of action and identity) that we are most at risk of succumbing to our instrumentalising nature” (413). Does Kester mean that collective works in the end bring out a sense of selfishness in the individual?
ReplyDeleteKester then applies this concept to Alys’s When Faith Moves Mountains (2002) with a statement that the artist’s intention was not geared towards the concept of teamwork but to display the failure of modernization of Mexico and throughout Latin America: “Although the video includes comments by several (unidentified) student volunteers, Alys’s installation does little to convey the nature of their participation, or their particular investment in the Sisyphean task that he has assigned them. They have been summoned by Alys not as collaborators but as bodies to illustrate a ‘social allegory’ about the inevitable failure of Latin America to modernize successfully” (414). It was interesting to find out that the entire work was “staged” or in other terms, given “careful attention…to the visual staging of the event” (417). After reading the other two articles, “Walking the Line” and “A Walk in the Invisible City”, I assumed that this piece was created through the true efforts of a group collaboration, where students volunteered because they wanted to take part of an artistic event, not because they were asked to do so. Despite the artist’s effort to display the failures of collaborative works through this piece, I felt that the piece itself could have brought more impact towards its viewers if the artist (or the author) himself never stated that it was staged.
In "Lessons in Futility: Francis Alys and the Legacy of May '68", Grant Kester highlights the work "When Faith Moves Mountains" by artist Francis Alys. According to Jester, Alys proves that "while faith cannot be bought it can apparently be strongly encouraged" (419). Alys has student volunteers help him carry out this project, having them literally move a mountain in a rural area outside the capital of Peru. The piece leaves much to discuss. Topics from the modernization of Latin America, to the resistance of it, to free labor and unused labor, poverty, and the displacement of peoples as big cities grow. There was also much to consider for this piece, as the artist and the writer of the article point out. From those possibly affected by the work (the nearby inhabitants, to the way the piece was executed, to where it was executed and for what purpose. What stands out to me after reading this article and watching the documentation of the piece is that there doesn't seem to be a real purpose to this work other than the slight proof that "faith moves mountains" - the mountain which is actually a dune only moves a few centimeters. I was imagining that a whole, actual mountain would be moving. Nonetheless, the action of gathering the volunteers and the action makes me recall actions by indigenous Peruvians, working collaboratively as they did for this project, like they did to sustain their lifestyles before colonization. This is another theme or topic that this work provokes.
ReplyDelete