jennifer allora & guillermo calzadilla
Allora: 1974, Philadelphia, United States. Calzadilla: 1971, Havana, Cuba.
Over the past twenty years, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla have developed an expansive and experimental body of work. Through sculpture, performance, video, sound and photography in varying combinations, they evoke contemporary geopolitics, cultural artifacts and the ‘deep time’ of archaeological history. They give meaning to their artistic research by delving into and questioning the structural and narrative conventions of storytelling and the potential of language and materiality. Allora & Calzadilla studied the cooperative and catalytic nature of impromptu collective drawing with ephemeral materials, at the Lima biennial in Peru (Chalk [Lima], 1998–2002); the imprints of colonial, nationalist, and military violence on the diverse populations and landscapes of Vieques, Puerto Rico (Landmark, 2001–2002); and the resonance of playing, warping, and combining music from various moments in history (Clamor, 2006; Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on “Ode to Joy” for a Prepared Piano, 2008; and Raptor’s Rapture, 2012). Their projects challenge viewers to build meaning through a literal, metaphorical, evidential and political reading of the work, and also to participate, as an experience that heightens aesthetic sensibility.
Jennifer Allora received her BA from the University of Richmond in Virginia (1996) and MS from MIT- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2003); Guillermo Calzadilla completed his BFA from the Escuela de Artes Plásticas in Puerto Rico (1996) and MFA from Bard College in New York (2001). Collaborating since 1995, Allora & Calzadilla have been the recipients of numerous grants and awards, from foundations such as the Gwangju Biennial (2004); Penny McCall Foundation (2003); Joan Mitchell Foundation (2002) and the Cintas Fellowship (2002-2001). In 2006 they were finalists for both the Hugo Boss Prize and the Nam June Paik Award.
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
A selection of their most notable projects and recent exhibitions include: Lo que queda del día, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (two-person exhibition with Rirkrit Tiravanija) (2025); Antilia, Centre Pompidou Metz, Paris (2025); ); KLIMA, Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao, Spain (2024); Entelequia, Serralves Foundation–Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal (2023); Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on “Ode to Joy” for a Prepared Piano, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2022); Specters of Noon, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas (2021); James Rosenquist and Allora & Calzadilla, Tate Modern, London (two-person exhibition) (2019); Chalk, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2019); Unspecified Promise, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (2017); Allora & Calzadilla: Echo to Artifact, Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA), Edmonton, Canada (2016); Puerto Rican Light (Cueva Vientos), a DIA Art Foundation commission in the Southern Coast of Puerto Rico (2015); Intervals, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Pennsylvania (2014); Fault Lines, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi at the Palazzo Cusani, Milan, Italy (2013); Gloria, US Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); Performance 9: Allora & Calzadilla, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010); Allora & Calzadilla, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway (2009); Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on “Ode to Joy” for a Prepared Piano, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2008); Never Mind That Noise You Heard, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008); Clamor, Serpentine Gallery, London (2007); Allora & Calzadilla, Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland (2007); Wake Up, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (2017); Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, S.M.A.K.-Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium (2006); Land Mark, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006).
installation view graft (phantom tree), 2025 at pinacoteca agnelli, torino, 2025. photo: sebastiano pellion di persano
Their work has also been curated into numerous group exhibitions at institutions such as: Over Land and Sea, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany (2025); Les pensées francophones, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2025); La Pista 500, Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin, Italy (2025); From Ukraine: Dare to Dream, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, organized by PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine; Venice (2024); Surrealism and Us: Caribbean and African Diasporic Artists since 1940, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (The Modern), Texas (2024); Trópico es político: Arte caribeño bajo el régimen de la economía del visitante, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2023); La Vénus de Lespugue, muse éternelle, Musée de l’Homme, Paris (2023); Fuori tutto (video gallery), MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2023); Before Tomorrow – Astrup Fearnley Museet 30 Years, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway (2023); Futuros abundantes: Obras de la colección de TBA21, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Córdoba, Spain (2022); Préhistorie, une énigme modern, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019); Surrounds: 11 installations, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2019); Travelers: Stepping Into The Unknown, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2018); Reenacting History_Collective Actions & Everyday Gestures, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul (2017); Home—So Different, So Appealing: Art from the Americas since 1957, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (2017); Cámara de Maravillas, Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM), Colombia (2016); Summer exhibition, The Royal Academy of Arts, London (2016); Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2014); traveled to Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2015); South London Gallery (2016); Festival d'Automne, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (2013); Fourth Plinth: Contemporary Monument, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London (2012); 11 Rooms — Manchester International Festival, United Kingdom (2011); Where do we go from here?, Bass Museum of Art, Miami (2009); My Generation, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2009); Greenwashing, Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2008); Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art, Barbican Centre, London (2008); Viva la Muerte, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria (2007); All about laughter, Humor in contemporary art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2007); Five Billion Years: Is there a fixed point in the universe?, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006); La Force de L’art, Grand Palais, Paris (2006); Common Wealth, Tate Modern, London (2005); S-Files, El Museo del Barrio, New York (2001); among others.
Allora & Calzadilla have also participated in various international biennials, notably: ALOHA NŌ, Hawai'i Triennial (2025); 15th and 12th Shanghai Biennale, China (2025 and 2018); Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, Saudi Arabia (2024); 23rd and 16th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2022 and 2008); Guangzhou Image Triennial 2021, Guangdong Museum of Art, China (2021); OpenART Biennale, Örebro, Sweden (2019); Sharjah Biennial 13 and 8, United Arab Emirates (2017 and 2007); 56th and 51st International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale (2015 and 2005); 10th and 7th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2014 and 2008); 9a and 6a Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2013 and 2007); 30th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Slovenia (2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012); 12. and 10. Istanbul Biennial, Turkey (2011 and 2007); 29 a and 14 a Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2010 and 1998); 9e Biennale de Lyon, France (2007); 1st and 2ndMoscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art (2005 and 2007); Whitney Biennial 2006, New York; 2nd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China (2005); 6e Biennale de l’Art africain contemporain, DAK’ART, Dakar, Senegal (2004); III Bienal Iberoamericana de Lima, Peru (2002); 8 Bienal de la Habana, Havana, Cuba (2000).
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.
