The Paradox of Praxis 1 (Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing) is a performance and conceptual work of art by the artist, Francis Alÿs. The work is set in Mexico City, Mexico in 1977 and is four minutes and fifty-nine seconds long. This video shows Francis Alÿs pushing a large block of ice around the city, until it has melted into nothing.
The introduction of the film shows the alternative name of the work, Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing, in a way that seems to set the viewer up for what they are watching. As the video progresses the viewer is confronted with images of dirty sidewalks with snail-like trails of water all over the city. It is very obvious to the viewer that the artist is working very hard to push this block around, both by his posture and from the red, obviously chilled hands of the man. As the video progresses, the ice melts and the man strains even more to bend to push the smaller block of ice. Once the ice has melted enough, the man can push the block with his feet and smoke a cigarette. The block of ice finally gets small enough to kick around like a ball and eventually melts. The final scene is of a puddle of water on a dirty sidewalk and a group of kids smiling in response to the puddle. The ending leaves the viewer dissatisfied because they do not get to see the ice turn into the puddle. The video just goes straight to a shot of the puddle and then ends. Alÿs planned to have a sequel created entitled Sometimes Doing Nothing Leads to Something, but never created the script for it. Some critics believe the fact that he never created this piece inspires more work based on the idea of efficiency.
This work fits well in Alÿs’ general body of work because of the common theme of wandering, l...
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· 1999: Private commissions (2). Continues to work on paintings for traveling exhibition, Visual Poems of Human Experience (The Company of Art, Chronology 1999).
This paper argues that the Mexican peso crisis of December 20 should have been expected and foreseeable. In the year preceding the crisis, there were several indicators suggesting that the Mexican economy and peso were already under extreme pressure. The economy bubble was ballooning to burst so much so that it was simply a crisis waiting to happen.
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This poem captures the immigrant experience between the two worlds, leaving the homeland and towards the new world. The poet has deliberately structured the poem in five sections each with a number of stanzas to divide the different stages of the physical voyage. Section one describes the refugees, two briefly deals with their reason for the exodus, three emphasises their former oppression, fourth section is about the healing effect of the voyage and the concluding section deals with the awakening of hope. This restructuring allows the poet to focus on the emotional and physical impact of the journey.
Mexico’s economy was very unstable and unfair in comparison to the U.S. and Canada’s economic standing. But even though Mexico’s economy was bad, Canada and the U.S. ignored that Mexico wasn’t in any condition to enter as an equal partner (Henderson 121). The overvalued peso in Mexico also caused many problems economically. Since the peso was overvalued for many years, when the peso did float in 1994, it lost 20 percent of its value (Henderson 123). Due to this drastic change to Mexico’s currency, Mexicans were unable to make their payments nor buy goods because the prices rose drastically, which caused many businesses to shut down or lay off their workers (Henderson 123). This was the start of the many problems yet to come because these countries would be trading unequally with Mexico since Mexico didn’t have much to give besides workers who would work for cheap
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recently the U.S. supplied Mexico with a loan in order to save the falling value
These cultural strictures come in a number of forms. First, the artist attacks intellectual conformity, choosing art over all other means of self-expression even though it is not widespread in his or her society. Though it is not explicitly stated - and is perhaps even subconscious - the artist chooses art over either academe or high society. The artist questions society's customs, making this choice explicit in their daily actions. The artist rejects ostentatious displays of wealth and the cultural emphasis on money, replacing it with a frugal simplicity more conducive to authentic experience. Finally, the artist calls into question the cultural construct most important to any understanding of human interaction - the binary conception of gender.
... today, Porfirio Diaz is was and will be a cornerstone in the country of Mexico.
...p from the world they live in, a world of separation and indicate themselves with their own realities. Art is handed over into society’s hands, as in one movement it is suggested - to fixate what is real, live like you create and create like you live; in other – abandon media’s proposed ideas and take the leadership of life in our own hands.
Barnett, Peter. “The French Revolution in Art”. ArtId, January 7th 2009. Web. 5th May 2013.
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