Klash! Art in Action

On 11 April 2002, the Belgian artist Francis Alÿs invites 500 volunteers in the suburbs of Lima, Peru, to equip themselves with shovels and move a sand dune near the capital. For the art installation Faith Moves Mountains, the helpers shifted a 200-metre high and 500-metre long dune by ten centimetres.

Le 22 octobre 1977, lors de la FIAC de Paris, ORLAN embrasse les participants, hommes ou femmes, en échange d'une pièce de 5 francs. Par son acte, l’artiste pose ainsi les bases de son manifeste à venir : L'Art Charnel.

Le 22 avril 1969, à Munich, l’artiste autrichienne VALIE EXPORT réalise l’action Genital Panic. Armée d'une mitraillette et vêtue d'un pantalon découpé à l'entre-jambe, elle expose son sexe aux visages des spectateurs tétanisés.

In 2007, artist Jimmie Durham undertakes a radical act in Mexico City: he crushes a black limousine with a gigantic, colourfully painted nine-tonne volcanic boulder. With a mix of irreverence and poetry, the artist stages the collision between ancient Mexican cultural heritage and American consumer culture. Through this provocative artwork, Durham explores themes of cultural clash, materialism, and the impact of globalisation on traditional societies. The act serves as a critique of the dominant power structures and raises questions about cultural identity and the preservation of indigenous traditions in the face of commercialisation and commodification.