Through a research-oriented practice, Allora & Calzadilla critically address the entanglements between history, ecology, and geopolitics using a multiplicity of artistic media that include performance, sculpture, sound, video, photography, and painting. Their dynamic engagement with the art historical results in an acute attention to both the conceptual and the material, the metaphoric as well as the factual. The Puerto Rico-based artists have studied the ephemeral nature of collective drawing with monumental sticks of chalk at the Biennial de Lima, Peru (Chalk [Lima], 1998–2002); the imprints of colonial, nationalist, and military violence on the diverse populations and landscapes of Vieques, Puerto Rico (Land Mark (Foot Prints), 2001–2002; Land Mark, 2003; Returning a Sound, 2004; Under Discussion, 2006; and Half Mast/Full Mast, 2011); and the resonance of playing, warping, and combining music from various moments in history (Clamor, 2006; Wake Up, 2007; Sediments Sentiments- Figures of Speech, 2008; Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on ,,Ode to Joy” for a Prepared Piano, 2008; Raptor’s Rapture, 2012; Apotomē, 2013; 3, 2013); as well as the entanglement between biophysics, semiotics, and actuality (Growth, 2004; Puerto Rican Light - Cueva Vientos, 2015).

Select recent solo exhibitions include Entelechy, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal, (2023); Allora & Calzadilla Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on ,,Ode to Joy” for a Prepared Piano, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, (2022); Specters of Noon, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA (2020); Chalk, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minn., USA (2019); The Tropical Pharmacy, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain (2019); Hope Hippo, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico (2018); Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain (2018); and Blackout, MAXXI, Rome, Italy (2018). They have also participated in numerous biennales, including the 56th, 54th, and 51st Biennale di Venezia International Art Exhibition, Venice, Italy (2015, 2011, 2005); the 10th and 7th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea (2014, 2008); the 9th and 6th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2013, 2007); the 30th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana Slovenia (2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012); the 12th and 10th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (2011, 2007); the 29th and 14th Biennial de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2010, 1998); 16th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2008); the 9th Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, France (2007); the 1st and 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (2005, 2007); the 14th, 13th and 8th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (2019, 2017, 2007); and the 2006 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, New York, NY, USA (2006).