Hardcover, 20.3 x 15.2 cm, 184 pages, English
Francis Alÿs is known for his discreet performative solo actions as well as for coordinating large-scale collective allegorical events. Many of these performances—both ones in which the artist features as a protagonist and the mass actions in which Alÿs himself stays on the sidelines—are now revered as classics of the genre. Characteristic of his approach, whose site-specific projects broach specific local and political situations through dialogue with people rather than by addressing them directly, is the process of negotiation and interaction.
Le temps du sommeil (The Time of Sleep, 1995–) exemplifies the subtlety and inscrutable quality of his oeuvre at large. The small pictures on wood panels measuring approximately 4.3 by 5.9 inches depict miniature scenes and often look like snapshots of simple gestures and activities that, upon closer inspection, appear to be fairly absurd.
