Francis Alys

An updated archive of Alys' long-term study of children's enduring need for play. Since 1999, Belgian multimedia artist Francis Alys (born 1959) has been producing videos that document the games that children play on the street and in courtyards around the world. Children's Games is an ongoing archive of the urban practices that modernity has banished from everyday life, as the concepts of public space and free time have grown increasingly distorted by the domination of motor vehicles and electronic diversions. Many of these videos were shot in economically underdeveloped regions of the world, where the strength of tradition and community have allowed the shared life of a childhood on the street to survive. The children's games that Alys captures gesture toward a threatened underground culture crossing generations and borders. Their rules, images and references suggest an ancient, potent substrate underlying our shared experience. SELLING POINTS: . Francis Alys is a Belgian-born, Mexico-based former architect turned artist whose ?relational? work blends art, architecture and social practice. The ongoing Children's Games film project documents games children play on the street and in courtyards around the world. . Since 1999, Alys has been producing videos that document the games that children play on the street and in courtyards around the world. . Alys' body of works encompasses many forms of media such as video, installations, paintings and drawings. . Many of the videos have been shot in relatively economically underdeveloped regions of the world, where the strength of tradition and community have allowed childhood on the streets to survive. 167 images