Jennifer Allora was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1974. Guillermo Calzadilla was born in 1971 in Havana, Cuba. Collaborating since 1995, Allora & Calzadilla approach visual art as a set of experiments that test whether ideas such as authorship, nationality, borders, and democracy adequately describe today’s increasingly global and consumerist society. Their hybridized works, often a unique mix of sculpture, photography, performance, sound and video, explore the physical and conceptual act of mark making and its survival through traces. By drawing historical, cultural, and political metaphors out of basic materials, Allora & Calzadilla’s works explore the complex associations between an object and its meaning. The charcoal dance floor was created in February of 2003. It depicts a bunch of young club goers dancing. It was made on the floor of an art gallery and allowed for people to walk all over it and scuff it up. After a while, the artwork was all messed up and the drawing had disappeared. I really like this piece of art. I think it tells a really cool story about a piece of art that the artist basically allowed to be ruined inside of an art gallery. I think these artists are 2 very unique ones, but have a knack for creating art that is appealing to its viewers
-O.D.
I really like the piece charcoal dance floor created in Feburary of 2003. It shows the artist didn't care about ruining a piece of their on artwork. Dancers alone scuff up and ruin the floor on which they are dancing so when people were allowed to walk on the piece they themselves were ruining the floor and the art. I think it is pretty courageous of the artist to let this happen to their work. I don't know if it was meant to be on purpose but I do find it very interesting that what they did was create such a unique floor with dancers and playfulness alike. - Owen
Over Thanksgiving break I was able to attend an art exhibit near my home in Staten Island, New York. Even though I've lived in Staten Island for almost 20 years, I've never went to the museum once before a few weeks ago. After visiting the museum, it has opened my eyes to a lot of great art. Visiting the museum has also made me wish that I appreciated the museum more while I was home and went to see it more often. Such great art was available to see for basically my whole life right under my nose ! Nevertheless, I decided to attempt to make up for lost time as I explored the Staten Island Museum just a few weeks ago. The origin of the art collections of the Staten Island Museum date from 1905 and cover a broad range of artistic styles and periods. Most of the objects, collected to promote the public's interest in historical and contemporary art, fall into two categories: those that reflect the history, people and culture of Staten Island and those that reflect broad world civilizations.
-O.D.
Over Thanksgiving break I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia. It is a pretty well known Museum in PA, but I must say the Museum was a lot bigger then I expected. The Museum holds great works of art from Hemmingway, Abbot, Joyce, and even companies that create furniture, glass and various forms of installation art. My favorite piece at the Museum had to be the Horse and Man Armor. Its armor made from the 1500's for Duke Eulrich of Wurttemberg. It was my favorite piece because it was done so well and the armor completely covers both the man and horse. Its also interesting that the armor dates back to the 1500's. It is a great piece to the Museum. The Museum had other great works and pieces also but bar far I was most impressed by the armor on my visit.
