Allora & Calzadilla on capturing the invisible

‘There’s something poetic about electromagnetic energy,’ says Guillermo Calzadilla, one half of the acclaimed Puerto Rican-American duo Allora & Calzadilla. For their latest series of works, the pair set out to tap into this latent poetry. They built an electromagnetic field in their studio in San Juan, Puerto Rico. To produce a piece, they place a canvas above an array of electrical cables on which they pour iron filings. Activated by the electrical current, these particles produce dramatic forms, bearing witness to the invisible forces shaping so much of what Jennifer Allora calls ‘concrete reality’.

While this series might seem like a departure for a duo that has made headlines for their spectacular installations – including an upside-down tank whose caterpillar tracks served as a treadmill – these new pieces are connected to the heart of Allora & Calzadilla’s practice. In this latest episode of ‘Meet the artists’, they discuss why energy has always been a key theme and the wide-ranging issues it allows them to uncover.

Allora & Calzadilla are represented by Gladstone Gallery (New York City, Los Angeles, Brussels); Lisson Gallery (London, New York City); kurimanzutto (Mexico City); Galerie Chantal Crousel (Paris).