THE US PAVILION AT THE 54th VENICE BIENNALE 2011, gloria by jennifer allora and guillermo calzadilla

Presented at the US Pavilion, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla showcased five powerful installations which exacerbated the dark and chaotic spirit of this 54th Venice Biennale. Gloria, with performances of American gymnasts was held inside whilst Track and Field saw U.S Olympic athlete Gary Morgan on a treadmill on top of a tank running in 30 minute stretches. A replica of the symbolic statue of Freedom stood alongside Algorithm, a pipe rigged together with a working ATM, where the organ only plays music during a transaction. “You can see the relationship between militarism, obviously,” says Guillermo Calzadilla, “and you can think about the war. But also you can think about sculpture; you can think about gravity, weight, assemblage, performance, sound. So it has all these sort of multiple registers that make it exceed one single, useful, practical, functional end.”

Text and photo Olivier Zahm