Allora & Calzadilla

Formed as a collaborative unit in 1995
Based in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Allora & Calzadilla (Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla) are known for video, sculptural, and performance works in which thorough research, brilliant interpretations, and bold creative leaps transform military and political conflicts and tensions into art––one example is Unrealizable Goals (2007), a video work commissioned by the Center for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu, which addresses the theme of Japan’s pacifist constitution. In recent years they have produced epic video pieces dealing with planetary- and universal-scale fluctuations and anthropological subjects, as well as musical performances that emphasize audience experience. The common thread binding together their work over the past 20 years, however, is a precisely targeted yet explosively powerful approach to universal human themes, delivered from a marginal, individual, and specific standpoint. Allora & Calzadilla represented the United States at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), and have taken part in numerous international exhibitions including dOCUMENTA (13) (Kassel, Germany, 2012) and the Gwangju Biennale (2004, 2008, 2014). Solo exhibitions include The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA) (2010) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2014-15).