MAASTRICHT.- The BACA is the only major award for international visual art in the Netherlands. The 2010 jury, comprised of Enrico Lunghi, Dirk Snauwaert and Alexander van Grevenstein, decided unanimously to give the award to Francis Alÿs (B - 1959), for the exceptionally high expressive quality of his work, showing the extent to which this can lead to truly poetic actions and interventions.

For the occasion of the BACA, the museum is not presenting a solo exhibition in the traditional sense. Francis Alÿs has decided to show his work in the Bonnefantenmuseum in a different, special way, creating new relationships between his work and the museum's collection. An amount of large projects are displayed, which are spread throughout the building. The central theme in this project is the street as a space filled with ambiguities.

A taste of the exhibition:

Choques, Mexico City, 2005
9-canals video-installation
Nine hidden cameras record nine views of an accident on the corner of Calle del cincuenta y siete and Calle República de Cuba, in the centre of Mexico City. The monitors are installed over three floors in the museum.

Duett, Venezia, 1999
In collaboration with Honoré d'O. Video and photographic documentation of an action.

Déjà vu, 1996-present
Paired paintings & paired sculptures
The Déjà vu series consists of pairs of identical oil paintings and sculptures, hung and installed separately in different exhibition rooms. The works are installed among the collection presentation in the museum.

Silencio, 2003 – present
Rubber carpets
61 x 47,8 x 06, cm (each)
Courtesy the artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich
An installation featuring a floor covered in multicolored rubber mats showing an image of a finger being pressed to lips.

Francis Alÿs was born in Belgium in 1959 and trained as an architect/urbanist before re-locating to Mexico City in 1986, where he has been based ever since. He is best known for his actions which he documents in various ways. Some just involve him walking through the city; other actions are epic events set in dramatic landscapes involving hundreds of participants. Alÿs also works with painting, animation and drawing, and many of the images he creates have a dreamlike surreal quality. His actions are frequently humorous, often transient, and can sometimes seem absurd, but they are always concise and carefully planned. Alÿs is interested to show and deal with his work through unconventional means.