Francis Alÿs

2002

Video, 00:60:12.
Materials: digital file, colour and sound

Collection: M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. S0726).

In the performance When Faith Moves Mountains, Francis Alÿs attempts, with the help of eight hundred Peruvian volunteers, to achieve the impossible: to displace a mountain by 10 cm. The performance took place in the slums near the Peruvian capital, Lima, as part of the 2002 Biennale. The installation consists of three videos and a series of reading tables with documentation. Francis Alÿs describes the action itself as a biblical image: 

“I don’t know if the dune has actually shifted, but something did happen during those four hours we spent digging there under a blazing sun. People climbed the hill and shovelled sand. Something happened that defies reason; it was a small miracle. It had something symbolic and something very real about it at the same time.” 

The artist refers to his actions as ‘fables’ or ‘stories’. They are characterised by an irrational element and humour. When Faith Moves Mountains has something absurd about it: an enormous amount of effort is expended for a minuscule result. Yet it is precisely this aspect that gives the work its contagious utopian vigour. The carefully planned action radiates an unconditional belief in the malleability of the world. Art cannot change the world, but it can help prepare the minds for such change. As an artist, Francis Alÿs seeks to open up the possibility for his audience to think differently, without imposing commentary, solutions or judgements. The performance is a sign of hope in a country in the midst of a political crisis. At the same time, with this work, Francis Alÿs critiques and demystifies ‘traditional’ Land Art. When Faith Moves Mountains is Land Art by people who own no land, realised through the efforts of the common man.