Allora & Calzadilla

NASJONALMUSEET
FOR KUNST,ARKITEKTUR
OG DESIGN

Jennifer Allora (b. 1974, USA) and Guilliermo (b. 1971, Cuba)
Have been working together since 1995. They have developed a distinctive vocabulary based on disrupting established presumption of societal norms. Politically
Charged topics suffuse their oeuvre, and this exhibition addresses themes of the abuse of power, while also addressing actual historical incidents.




The exhibition’s featured work, Sediments, Sediments (Figures of Speech) from 2007,is part of a series of site-specific sound installation. One hears a libretto of extracts from political speeches made by Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama and Saddan Hussein, among is visceral and physical, example of the pair’s complex vernacular, an amalgam of dissimilar elements that together form an absurd whole.
Allora & Calzadilla have a research-driven approach to their subject matter. Over time they collect recordings of speeches, music and visual material that are refined into expressions of opinion. During the course of their creative process it is this collected material becomes a partner they enter into a dialogue with. The pair challenges existing systems and authoritative positions continually seeking to find new ways of responding and acting in relation to particular events and to the times we live in.




Allora & Calzadilla’s works are articulated through a broad range of media. They include per formative elements, photography, video and installations, and are characterized by surprising constellations, absurd humors and dialogue. The artists often invite others to participate in they works.




video
Rreturnig a Sound 2004



The video Under Discussion,2005 is a follow up to Returning Sound. The opening image of the video is dark. we can just make out someone wading through water. On closer inspection this turns out to be someone pulling a table behind them at the water's edge. The table is upside down, and is rectangular in shape-not unlike the kind of table that might at a seminar
decimation of the




Under Discussion 2005

Land Mark (Foot Prints) from 2000-2002 among others is collaboratory project. Here the focus is on the American military authorities’ appropriation of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, and how their bomb testing has resulted in decimation of the island’s ecosystem.




Land Mark (Foot Prints) from 2000-2002
http://www.alloracalzadilla.com/


Y aquí les va una foto del presentador de esta información junto al artista Guillermo Calzadilla.


Oslo 15 de Octubre de 2009.
Foto y documentación (Alexis Parra Pucho)