Public Program
In Dialogue: On Specters of Noon
Installation view of Allora & Calzadilla’s Blackout, 2020. Power transformer, bronze, electricity, vocalists, 120 ½ × 85 ½ × 78 ¾ inches (306.1 × 217.2 × 200 cm). Courtesy of Lisson Gallery, New York and London; and Cadastre (Meter Number 18257262, Consumption Charge 36.9kWh x $0.02564, Rider FCA-Fuel Charge Adjusted 36.9 kWh x $0.053323, RiderPPCA-Purchase Power Charge Adjusted 36.9kWh x $0.016752, Rider CILTA-Municipalities Adjusted 36.9kWh x $0.002376, Rider SUBA subsidies $1.084), 2019. Iron filings on linen, overall: 72 × 840 inches (182.9 × 2133.6 cm), each: 72 × 120 inches (182.9 × 304.8 cm). Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels. © Allora & Calzadilla. Photo: Paul Hester
Portrait of Allora & Calzadilla. Courtesy of the artists and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.
In Dialogue: On “Specters of Noon”
Artistic duo Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla join the Menil’s Senior Curator Michelle White for a conversation about their recently opened exhibition, Allora & Calzadilla: Specters of Noon, on view at the Menil Collection through June 20, 2021. Comprised of seven major works, and inspired by the Menil’s extraordinary holdings of Surrealism, this exhibition captures the energy and intrigue of high noon, a fleeting time when shadows disappear and delirious apparitions emerge.
About the speakers:
Since 1995, Jennifer Allora (b. 1974, United States) and Guillermo Calzadilla (b. 1971, Cuba) have built a research-based practice that engages with the history of art and responds critically to the intersections among culture, history, and geopolitics. The duo produces interdisciplinary works combining performance, sculpture, sound, video, and photography. Their work has been exhibited extensively internationally, and they have participated in many biennales, including the 56th and 51st Venice Biennials. Allora & Calzadilla live and work in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Michelle White is Senior Curator at the Menil Collection, Houston. She joined the museum in 2006, where she has curated many exhibitions including: Allora & Calzadilla: Spectors of Noon; Roni Horn: When I Breathe, I Draw; Mona Hatoum: Terra Infirma; and Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective, which traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Prior to her appointment at the Menil, she has held positions at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
About the series:
In Dialogue is the Menil Collection’s series of live, online conversations. Menil curators are joined by notable scholars, artists, and art professionals for engaging discussions about the museum’s collection, current exhibitions, and ideas shaping contemporary discourses about art. All programs are free and open to everyone.
