Alÿs’ poetic performances have much in common with Debord’s notion of psychogeography; described as ‘a compulsive wanderer’, he himself states,

…I spend a lot of time walking around the city… The initial concept for a project often emerges during a walk. As an artist, my position is akin to that of a passer-by constantly trying to situate myself in a moving environment. My work is a succession of notes and guides. The invention of a language goes together with the invention of a city. Each of my interventions is another fragment of the story that I am inventing, of the city that I am mapping.

Francis Alÿs