Francis Alÿs and relational aesthetics. A poetics of the liminal

Abstract

This paper examines the work of Francis Alÿs, an artist who employs walks and actions in public spaces to interrogate the notion of the border. Frequently situated within the framework of relational aesthetics, his practice uses video as a primary medium to record interventions that transform the physical boundary into a device for reflection on migration, social bonds, and utopias. Through poetic and symbolic gestures enacted upon dividing lines, Alÿs challenges political and social structures from a critical standpoint, in which the artist’s body becomes an instrument of ephemeral inscription and enduring inquiry.