“When Faith Moves Mountains”

This work by Belgian performance artist Francis Alÿs involved the physical labor of five hundred volunteers with shovels. In 2002, they gathered at a huge sand dune on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, and over the course of a day moved it by several inches.

The action itself, as documented in photographs and video, is extraordinarily impressive, but in the end the “social allegory” takes over from the work’s undeniable formal presence. The action was completely transitory. The next day, no one could recognize that the huge sand dune had been moved. The true aftermath of the work lies in the ripples of anecdote and image that radiate out from it.