Artsonje Center

Francis Alys, Gibraltar Logbook

This exhibition at the ArtSonje Center is presenting the work of Francis Alys. He is born in Belgium in 1959 and he is now living in Mexico.

The exhibition gathers his works about borders and immigration issues. He uses different medium such as painting, videos and installation. Gibraltar Logbook is directly related to the subject of his work, the Strait of Gibraltar.

This exhibition also presents his work about the border between the USA and Cuba.

Immigration in a huge social issue nowadays, especially in Europe. There were so many victims of people who wanted to cross illegally the Mediterranean sea. That is why this exhibition is dealing with a very actual subject.

Don’t cross the Bridge before you get to the river

The first installation was really strong. There were two screams, facing each others. The audience could seat between them. The both videos show a group of children who are swimming in the sea, playing with hand maid boats. But the fact is that, one of the video have been made in the European side of the Mediterranean sea while the other one, in the Africain side - but they are quite the same. So, by seating in the middle of those two screams, we represent the border. We are materially the only obstacle that prevent those child from those different countries to meet each other. But w are also the bridge. The ones who can make the link between those countries. In other words, this installations put the audience in action and active perspective. We can decide if we want to be a border or a bridge. So it also means that we can change things by acting.

I think that those videos were also a kind of violent because the camera used was a waterproof one so we can see the children from under water and the sound is also alternate between out and into the water. It reminds me all sinking that happened the last few years. By using children for this project he also directly refers to child’s innocence and dreams. This art work make me feel the irrationality of borders.

In the third floor of the building, the boats made by the children for this project was presented in line under the name Shoeboats. They were made with shoes. Close to it, there were two videos, Miradores that remind the first installation. They were one fixe shot of people facing the sea, from both Spain and Morocco side. Francis Alys plays, with the notion of mirror thought those works. Both side of the Mediterranean sea are put in the same equality. They look like each other. So, at least those artworks destroy the logic of the border. The third floor of the exhibition also gathered the artist’s paintings about his reflection on bridges. He used the collage as a way to create a bridge that cross the sea. I really liked the scenography of this exhibition because walls were painted in light pink. So it avoid to create a bad atmosphere that we can see sometimes when it is about immigration issues.

Finally, the second most important work of this exhibition in my opinion was the documentary of a performance that Alys did, Bridge/Puente. His asked, on each side of the sea that separates the USA from Cuba, to fishermen to create a bridge with their own boats. It must have been a huge performance to organise. The documentary also showed some interviews about what people would think of the idea of a bridge crossing this sea. This part of the world suffers from a real tension between the two countries.

Alys is playing with the horizon. The place from where he filmed the documentary let us think that there is a real boats bridge upon the sea. So He can destroy the distance between the two countries.

This performance in also a metaphor of the bridge. He may say thought this work, « you can be a bridge », you can create contact between each others.

This work was very anthropologic. It gave a strong reflection about the notions of borders, bridge and immigration. But it is also a reflection about how can artwork touch the audience to make them « active » more than passive and to make them think and feel about those humanity’s problem. Even more, Don’t cross the Bridge before you get to the river, deals with the capacity of art to make the public being a part of the work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qg7Bhgf1-k