Border Crossings Magazine
Francis Alÿs, stills from Paradox of Praxis I (Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing), 1997, video. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York.
...The video, Paradox of Praxis I, 1997, shows Alÿs pushing a large block of ice through the streets of Mexico City until it dissolves into a puddle. It could easily be seen as a commentary on how, in the developing world, man’s labour amounts to nothing—and, as the artist states, a settling of accounts with Minimalism. At the same time, the longer Alÿs pushes his block of ice, not only does the ice dissolve, but so does the back-breaking effort of pushing it. At the end of the day, all that is left is the fatigued, but impromptu, soccer match of batting around an ice cube in the street on a hot day. The effort amounts to nothing, but so what?...
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