Play is a serious thing. It shows in this series of videos and paintings by Francis Alÿs (Antwerp, 1959), which analyses the behaviour of children as they take part in one of the first creative moments in their lives, the moment their personalities begin to relate with the surrounding world. The observation of human behaviour is a constant in Alÿs’s work, which in this case focuses on the social dynamics that interest childhood viz. adult life, showing how children need much fewer resources to adapt the environment to their goals.
