Francis Alÿs Exhibition

2006 - Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico City

Belgian artist Francis Alÿs asked for our architectural support in mounting his exhibition in the Colegio de San Ildefonso museum, in the historic downtown area of Mexico City. His proposal required the construction of a platform inside a large chapel to divide this majestic space into smaller compartments. As an architectural solution, we decided to multiply instead of reducing the amount of columns upon which the platform rests, and reduce the section as much as possible. The result is a dense grouping of slender pine columns and diagonal wind braces that were added to provide the structure with horizon-tal stability. This transformed the mathematical grid into a mysterious forest of lines that allude to the walks taken by Francis Alÿs in the chaotic streets of central Mexico City.

Architecture: PRODUCTORA (Carlos Bedoya, Victor Jaime, Wonne Ickx, Abel Perles)| In collaboration with: Francis Alÿs and Cuauhtémoc Medina, curator | Project type: architectural support and development for the exhibition Walking Distance From the Studio, by artist Francis Alÿs | Location: Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso Museum, Historic Center, Mexico City, Mexico | Date: January–June 2006 | Photography: Cyril Rozent