Social Allegories of Reading: Francis Alÿs in the Age of Cuauhtémoc

• In Event: The Expansion of the Arts II: Politics

Abstract

The value of the cultural capital of Francis Alÿs’s oeuvre is incalculable without the criticism that Cuauhtémoc Medina has produced about it. Historically, critics and curators have promoted their favorite artists, but Medina’s championing of Alÿs’s work is distinct. In collaborations like When Faith Moves Mountains (2002) and The Politics of Rehearsal II (2005) the pair has tested the bounds of artwork and criticism, showcasing an interactional loop that generates “paradoxes of praxis.” The key role of Medina as translator of Alÿs’s artwork on a global circuit reinforces the myth of the temporally sensitive site-specificity of that artwork’s production. Mexico’s long 1990s and first decade of the twenty-first century have become synonymous with the transnational opening of its markets. Economists routinely refer to the years of NAFTA’s complete implementation—from 1994 to 2008—as the second phase of Mexico’s transition. The years simultaneously have been heralded as corresponding to the increased global visibility of Mexico City-produced art. “Social allegories” of Latin America and Latin American art, Alÿs and Medina’s staged collaborations benefit from the tenets of growing later capitalism. Their work also offers strident critiques of modernization and contemporary ideations of geography. In this presentation, I will consider the relationship between text/criticism and performance/ephemeral art object in When Faith Moves Mountains and The Politics of Rehearsal II especially to ask the broader question: What are the implications of approaching the NAFTA era of D.F. art as “the age of Cuauhtémoc”?

Author

• Amy Sara Carroll, University of Michigan