“Beyond and through the associations it awakens (the power of human effort, determination fueled by passion, the instability of postmodern landmarks), this action is a great advance bet. In a time when all promises seemingly fail to come true, art’s utopian gesture is now, if not a redemptive figure, then the hint of a possible course: of one of many paths that, though they cannot be seen clearly, can at least be partly, fleetingly intuited. Art’s ability to imagine or reveal possible routes might presage or lead to better times. At any rate, its magical calling and its poetic vein (terms which, in the long run, mean more or less the same) are today shelters in the face of the single course imposed by the market.” Ticio Escobar, El Correo Semanal, Última hora, Asunción, Paraguay, April 27, 2002.
“A rare manifestation of paradox in everyday life. A kind of friendly vicious circle.” Action by Patrick Hughes (1973). (Patrick Hughes & George Brecht: Vicious Circles and Infinity, London: Penguin Books, 1975)
of “meaninglessness” that shows the absurdity of the situation? Can an absurd act provoke a transgression that makes you abandon the standard assumptions on the sources of conflict? Can those kinds of artistic acts bring about the possibility of change? (…) In any case, how can art remain politically significant without assuming a doctrinal standpoint or aspiring to become social activism? (…) For the moment, in my work I am exploring the following axiom: Sometimes doing something poetic can become political and Sometimes doing something political can become poetic.10
10
166
From an e-mail by Francis Alÿs, May 2004.