Allora & Calzadilla
dal 8/3/2012 al 13/10/2012
Segnalato da
8/3/2012
Allora & Calzadilla
Indianapolis Museum of Art IMA, Indianapolis
For "Body in Flight", the artists appropriated the form of a business class airline seat and reproduced it in full-scale. When activated by a female gymnast in her red, white, and blue competitive unitard, the painted, wooden airline seat replica becomes an unlikely gymnastic apparatus reminiscent of a balance beam. "Vieques Series" is an exhibition of short videos by the artists filmed on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, which has been a site of protest and civil unrest for decades.
Allora & Calzadilla: Body in Flight
March 8 - April 22, 2012
The Indianapolis Museum of Art was selected to present the work of the Puerto Rico-based artist collaborative Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla in an exhibition titled Gloria at the U.S. Pavilion during La Biennale di Venezia, the 54th International Art Exhibition, on view in Venice from June 4–November 27, 2011. Often referred to as the Olympics of contemporary art, since its founding in 1895, the Biennale has promoted contemporary culture, new ideas, and artistic trends through major exhibitions organized by countries from around the world that have the opportunity to be awarded gold or silver medals for their innovation.
Body in Flight (Delta) was one of the six new works featured in Gloria. To celebrate the Biennale and that this work is accessible to local audiences through the addition of Body in Flight (Delta) to the IMA’s permanent collection, the work will be sited in the IMA’s Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion for the duration of six weeks. During this time, the work will serve as a platform for ongoing performances by local gymnasts. For Body in Flight (Delta), Allora & Calzadilla appropriated the form of a business class airline seat and reproduced it in full-scale. When activated by a female gymnast in her red, white, and blue competitive unitard, the painted, wooden airline seat replica becomes an unlikely gymnastic apparatus reminiscent of a balance beam. The female gymnasts perform a routine developed by Olympic gymnasts, Allora & Calzadilla, and choreographer Rebecca Davis. This routine, which emphasizes flexibility and fluidity, is an unexpected combination of gymnastic skills and modern dance techniques.
Allora & Calzadilla use an additive method of artistic creation. For their work, the artists use what they refer to as “poetic glue” to fuse dissimilar objects, activities, or sounds. This results in artworks and performances that give new meanings to familiar forms, allowing for limitless possibilities of reinterpretation. For Body in Flight (Delta), the artists have destabilized the rigorous field of competitive gymnastics, contaminating signature gymnastics movements with elements of modern dance choreography. While a typical gymnastics routine lasts only a couple of minutes, the 17-minute performance for Body in Flight (Delta) tests the athlete’s endurance. This new, seemingly gravity-defying routine contradicts the intention of the luxurious business class seat, which was designed to disguise the thrust of the plane’s trajectory and allow for maximum comfort of the passenger. The artists recreate the Delta seat in wood as if it were a polychromatic religious icon in order to make a comparison between venerated relics from the past and objects of admiration from our capitalist culture today.
Allora & Calzadilla
Vieques Series
Allora & Calzadilla: Vieques Series is an exhibition of three short videos by the artists Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla filmed on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, which has been a site of protest and civil unrest for decades. In 1941, the eastern and western edges of the Vieques were acquired by the U.S. Military to practice naval strategies. The land was used for this purpose (and often rented to militaries of U.S. allies as well) until 2003, when the U.S. Department of the Interior was given ownership of the land and areas of the island were declared a wildlife refuge. As Vieques Series demonstrates, the cessation of the military from the land is a victory by the locals that has initiated a longer sequence of events. The residents of Vieques continue to debate about the best future for the recently demilitarized land. Through the unexpected juxtaposition of familiar objects and participation of Viequense locals, Vieques Series illustrates the complex issues still present on the island. The videos, which have never before been presented together in the U.S., include Returning a Sound (2004), Under Discussion (2005) and Half Mast\Full Mast (2010).
Returning a Sound is the first in the series, and documents a symbolic reclaiming of the land by activist Homar, who travels by an adapted moped in areas that were forbidden to the residents of Vieques for decades. A trumpet has been affixed to the muffler of the moped, which emits a call that varies in pitch due to the land’s terrain and the speed of the bike. This “anthem”—created by an instrument typically used for military ballads—recalls abrasive sounds, such as the bombs that were deployed by the U.S. Navy on Vieques for over sixty years. Under Discussion follows Diego, the son of a local fisherman, as he circles the island on a boat made from an overturned conference table powered by an outboard motor. The video depicts coastlines riddled with deployed bombs, and luxury resorts that have been constructed on land previously occupied by the U.S. Navy. By literally mobilizing the conference table, Diego’s actions symbolize the need for a democratic process of discussion, rather than mandate from the U.S. government or wealthy investors to determine the fate of the land.
Half Mast\Full Mast, which premiered in the U.S. Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia, is a two-channel video consisting of two projected videos, one stacked above the other. Each depicts a different landscape on Vieques, but both share a common cinematic framing of a flagpole in the center of the image. The result of the two images together creates the appearance of one single flagpole connected between the two screens, despite the images’ otherwise obvious disjunctive backgrounds. One gymnast at a time enters one of the two screens and takes the position of a human flag. Depending on which screen the gymnasts appear, top or bottom, the flag seems to be flying at full mast or half mast, in sites that symbolically mark places of victory or setback in the island’s 60 year struggle for peace, decontamination, ecological justice, and sustainable development.
About Allora & Calzadilla
Working together since 1995, Jennifer Allora (b. 1974, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Guillermo Calzadilla (b. 1971, Havana, Cuba) are a collaborative that lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Allora & Calzadilla create works that blend sculpture, photography, performance, sound, and video. Their work has been featured in solo exhibitions internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010); Kunstmuseum Krefeld, Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld (2009); National Museum of Art, Oslo (2009); Haus der Kunst, Münich (2008); Renaissance Society, Chicago (2007); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008); Serpentine Gallery and Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2007); Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich (2007); and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006); among others.
The collaborative pair has also been included in group exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010); 24th and 29th Bienal de São Paulo (1998/2010); Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo (2009); Barbican, London (2008); Prospect1, New Orleans (2008); 16th Biennale of Sydney (2008); New Museum, New York (2008); 8e and 9e Biennale de Lyon (2005/2007); 10th International Istanbul Biennial (2007); Whitney Biennial, New York (2006); Musée d’Art Moderne de La Ville de Paris/Arc (2004); Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis (2003); and Tate Modern Galleries, London (2003); among others.
Allora received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Richmond in Virginia (1996) and a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2003) and was a fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Calzadilla received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Escuela de Artes Plásticas, San Juan, Puerto Rico (1996) and a Master of Fine Arts from Bard College (2003).
Media Contacts:
Katie Zarich / Candace Gwaltney
317-920-2650 / 317-923-1331 x 239 kzarich@imamuseum.org / cgwaltney@imamuseum.org
Exhibition performances will be held March 9-April 22.
Thursdays at 6:30 pm | Fridays at 5:30 pm | Saturdays/Sundays at 2 pm
Indianapolis Museum of Art
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