Through a complex research-oriented practice, Allora & Calzadilla critically address the intersections between history, material culture, ecology, and geopolitics, using a multiplicity of artistic media that include performance, sculpture, sound, video, and photography. The interdisciplinary nature of their interventions is echoed by an expanded use of the artistic medium that includes performance, sculpture, sound, video, and photography. Their dynamic engagement with the art historical results in an acute attention to both the conceptual and the material, the metaphoric as well as the factual. The Puerto Rico-based artists have studied the ephemeral nature of collective drawing with monumental sticks of chalk at the Biennial de Lima, Peru; the imprints of colonial, nationalist, and military violence on the diverse populations and landscapes of Vieques, Puerto Rico; and the resonance of playing, warping and combining music from various moments in history; as well as the entanglement between biophysics, semiotics, and actuality.
Allora & Calzadilla live and work in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Jennifer Allora (b. 1974) received a BA from the University of Richmond in Virginia (1996), attended the Whitney Independent Study Program (1998), and received an M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2003). Guillermo Calzadilla (b. 1971, Cuba) received a BFA from Escuela de Artes Plásticas, San Juan, Puerto Rico (1996) and an MFA from Bard College (2001). Collaborating since 1995, Allora & Calzadilla were finalists for the Hugo Boss Prize (2006) and the Nam June Paik Award (2006).
Select recent solo exhibitions include: Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal, (2023); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, (2022); The Menil Collection, Houston, TX (2020); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2019); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain (2019); Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico (2018); Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain (2018); MAXXI, Rome, Italy (2018); Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (2016); DIA Art Foundation Commission in Guayanilla/Penuelas, Puerto Rico (2015); Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA (2014); Kaldor Public Art Projects, Sydney, Australia (2012); Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN (2012); MoMA, New York (2010); U.S Pavilion 54th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale Di Venezia, Venice, Italy (2011); The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway (2009); Haus der Kunst München, Munich, Germany (2008); Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2008); Serpentine Gallery, London (2007); Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland (2007); ‘Wake Up, The Renaissance Society’ The University of Chicago, IL (2007); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2007); and, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2006).
They have participated in numerous biennials, such as the 51st and 56th Biennale di Venezia International Art Exhibition, Venice, Italy (2005, 2015); the 7th and 10th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2008, 2014); the 6th and 9th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2007, 2013); the 30th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Slovenia (2013); documenta 13, Kassel, Germany (2012); the 10th and 12th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey (2007, 2011); the 14th and 29th Biennial de São Paulo, Brazil (1998, 2010); 16th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2008); the 9th Biennale de Lyon, France (2007); the 1st and 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Russia (2005, 2007); the 8th, 13th and 14th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates (2007, 2017, 2019); the 2006 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, New York (2006); the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China (2005); the 6th Dakar Biennale, Senegal (2004); the 3rd Biennale Iberoamericana, Lima, Peru (2002); and the 7th Biennial de la Habana, Cuba (2000). They are the recipients of other prizes, including DAAD, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (2008-2009); the Gwangju Biennial Prize (2004); Penny McCall Foundation Grant (2003); Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant (2002); and the Cintas Fellowship (2001–02).
