Jennifer Allora (1974, USA) and Guillermo Calzadilla (1971, Cuba) live in Puerto Rico and have worked together since 1995. The production and use of sound is central to their work. In a recent series of installations documented in this book, they explore the continuum between noise and its structuring through music, a potentially rich tool through which cultural, social, and political relationships can be both gauged and challenged. Many of these recent works are the outcome of the artists' investigations into how power, militarism, and war are encoded into sound. They have developed a multifaceted oeuvre consisting of installations, videos, performances, social interactions, works in public space, photos and collages. Their practice is characterized by a sense of playfulness, humor, and social involvement, and focuses on local situations and concrete materials and forms, while at the same time providing a platform to hear resonances within a larger global context.
The book includes short essays on their exhibitions by each of the collaborating publishing institutions' curators, an overview essay by Hannah Feldman, and two interviews with the artists. The book also has an extensive section on the artists' research material for this series – a fascinating set of texts, images, and ephemera ranging from the biblical story of Joshua's trumpets blowing down the walls of Jericho, to lists of the most frequently requested songs during the Panama invasion.
In this book the artists do not so much theorize about music as through it. The design and sequencing between reproductions of works and reference images were determined in close collaboration with them.
Published with Kunsthalle Zurich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Serpentine Gallery, London; the San Francisco Art Institute; and JRP/Ringier
2010, Hardcover, 10.5 x 8.5 inches, 156 pp, 146 color, 50 b/w illus.
