Francis Alÿs: Handspiele
Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Rämistrasse 33, Zurich, Switzerland
Opening Saturday June 13
Forthcoming exhibition
Overview
Galerie Peter Kilchmann is pleased to present Handspiele (Hand Games), Francis Alÿs’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery and the first dedicated specifically to his animations. The exhibition brings together seven new animations alongside paintings, drawings, installations, and a comprehensive presentation of publications spanning the artist’s career.
Closely connected to Alÿs’s celebrated Children’s Games series (1999–present), Handspiele focuses on one of the most elementary and universally shared forms of play: hand games. Created through hundreds of hand-drawn pencil images, the animations distill familiar gestures into carefully choreographed movements of hands, exploring play as a form of communication, interaction, and social exchange. While the Children’s Games videos document children at play in public spaces around the world, the animations isolate these actions and reduce them to their most fundamental gestures.
Francis Alÿs (b. 1959, Antwerp, Belgium) lives and works in Mexico City. His work has been presented at international institutions such as the Barbican Centre (London, UK), Tate Modern (London, UK), MoMA (New York, USA), and in major international exhibitions, including Documenta and the Venice Biennale. In 2022, he represented Belgium at the 59th Venice Biennale with The Nature of the Game, a large-scale presentation of his ongoing Children’s Games project.
By bringing together recent animations alongside recent works on canvas, Handspiele offers a focused overview of recurring themes in Alÿs’s practice and highlights the central role that play has occupied throughout his work.
The exhibition is on view through July 24, 2026.
Closely connected to Alÿs’s celebrated Children’s Games series (1999–present), Handspiele focuses on one of the most elementary and universally shared forms of play: hand games. Created through hundreds of hand-drawn pencil images, the animations distill familiar gestures into carefully choreographed movements of hands, exploring play as a form of communication, interaction, and social exchange. While the Children’s Games videos document children at play in public spaces around the world, the animations isolate these actions and reduce them to their most fundamental gestures.
Francis Alÿs (b. 1959, Antwerp, Belgium) lives and works in Mexico City. His work has been presented at international institutions such as the Barbican Centre (London, UK), Tate Modern (London, UK), MoMA (New York, USA), and in major international exhibitions, including Documenta and the Venice Biennale. In 2022, he represented Belgium at the 59th Venice Biennale with The Nature of the Game, a large-scale presentation of his ongoing Children’s Games project.
By bringing together recent animations alongside recent works on canvas, Handspiele offers a focused overview of recurring themes in Alÿs’s practice and highlights the central role that play has occupied throughout his work.
The exhibition is on view through July 24, 2026.
