jennifer allora & guillermo calzadilla
Jennifer Allora (1974, Philadelphia, United States) & Guillermo Calzadilla (1971, Havana, Cuba) have developed an experimental and innovative practice that addresses the entanglements between history, ecology, and geopolitics using a multiplicity of artistic media that includes performance, sculpture, sound, video, photography, and painting.
Since the beginning of their collaborative practice in 1995, Allora & Calzadilla have presented solo exhibitions at some of the world’s most important museums—including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Serralves Museum, Porto, The Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; The Menil Collection, Houston; Serpentine Gallery, London; the Castello de Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; MAXXI, Rome; Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao; Haus der Kunst, Munich, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and Dia Art Foundation among others. In 2011 they represented the United States of America at the 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale with an ambitious project, Glória – a performative critique of the narratives and symbols that overlap in America’s political, cultural, and economic nationalism.
Allora & Calzadilla live and work in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
puerto rican light (cueva vientos), 2015
dan flavin, puerto rican light (to jeannie blake), 1965
red, pink, and yellow fluorescent lights, 96 inches high; solar-powered batteries and inverter.
installation view in: el convento natural protected area, guayanilla-peñuelas, puerto rico
commissioned by dia art foundation, new york
entelechy, 2020
coal, vocalists
14 x 31 x 48 ft
installation view of specters of noon at menil collection, houston
penumbra”, 2020; computer generated shadow animation, synch with sun-path in real time, sound
installation view of allora & calzadilla: specters of noon, menil collection, houston
graft, 2019
recycled polyvinyl chloride and paint
dimensions variable
installation view of allora & calzadilla: specters of noon, menil collection, 2020-2021
cadastre (meter number 18257262, consumption charge 36.9kWh x $0.02564, rider FCA-fuel charge adjusted 36.9 kWh x $0.053323, rider PPCA-Purchase power charge adjusted 36.9kWh x $0.016752, rider CILTA-Municipalities adjusted 36.9kWh x $0.002376, rider SUBA subsidies $1.084), 2019
iron filings on linen
6 x 70 ft
installation view of specters of noon, menil collection, houston
blackout, 2020
power transformer, bronze, electricity, vocalists
306.1 × 217.2 × 200 cm
manifest, 2020
bat and bird guano
side A: 449.6 × 208.3 × 99.1 cm, side B: 449.6 × 208.3 × 99.1 cm
installation view of allora & calzadilla: specters of noon, menil collection, 2020-2021
the great silence, 2014
three-channel hd video, color, sound
stop, repair, prepare: variations on "ode to joy" for a prepared piano, 2008
prepared bechstein piano, pianist (marcin wieczorek depicted in photo)
piano: 40 x 67 x 84 in
installation view in neue nationalgalerie, berlin 2022
Solo exhibitions have taken place at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; Tate Modern, London; Serpentine Gallery, London; Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Castello de Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; MAXXI, Rome; Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Barcelona; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Renaissance Society, Chicago; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; among others. Allora & Calzadilla represented the United States at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. In 2015, they made the site-specific installation Puerto Rican Light (Cueva Vientos), a Dia Art Foundation commission on the southern coast of Puerto Rico.
neue nationalgalerie
The Menil Collection presents a major exhibition of seven sculptural works by the artists Allora & Calzadilla that revolve around this concept, serving as a manifestation of noon’s hold over humankind and as a metaphor for the uncertainties defining our time.
