In the series Children’s Games (1999–ongoing), Francis Alÿs presents scenes of children at play around the world. Composed of nearly twenty videos, this inventory of childhood activities offers an intimate yet political view of the universal and unifying nature of games. Captured images show how children turn simple, ordinary things—chairs, coins, sand, stones—into the raw material for unlikely and fantastical universes. Transformed by imagination and a fraternal spirit that is both tacit and spontaneous, these objects lose their usual prosaicness to find new symbolic potential. With each gesture, the children reinvent the world, the tensions that organize it, and the converging forces that travel through it.

Exhibited work(s):
Children’s Games series
Children’s Game 1 / Caracoles (1999)
Children’s Game 2 / Ricochets (2007)
Children’s Game 3 / Coins (2008)
Children’s Game 4 / Elastic (2008)
Children’s Game 5 / Revolver (2009)
Children’s Game 6 / Sandcastles (2009)
Children’s Game 7 / M Hoop and Stick (2010)
Children’s Game 8 / Marbles (2010)
Children’s Game 9 / Saltamontes (2011)
Children’s Game 10 / Papalote (2011)
Children’s Game 11 / Wolf and Lamb (2011)
Children’s Game 12 / Sillas (2012)
Children’s Game 13 / Piñata (2012)
Children’s Game 14 / Piedra, papel y tijeras (2013)
Children’s Game 15 / Espejos (2013)
Children’s Game 16 / Hopscotch (2016)
Children’s Game 17 / Chunggi (2017)
Children’s Game 18 / Knucklebones (2017)

Born

1959, Antwerp, Belgium

Countries / Nations

Belgium / Mexico

Lives

Mexico City, Mexico

Website

francisalys.com