Clamor - Allora & Calzadilla

It seems to me that the body of work produced by Allora & Calzadilla is mainly focused on the various ways in which specific aesthetic forms and media are used (and abused) by society. By subverting established conventions of 'proper use' of specific forms, the artists invite the viewers to engage with the political aspects of convention and open up the possibility for alternative practices. In 'clamor', the artists created a large, bunker-like enclosure which combines the architectural elements of military construction with the craggy ruins that war leaves behind. A group of musicians hidden within the enclosure play military music from various time periods and geographic regions, playing out of slits in the enclosure as if poised behind a machine gun. The competition between the simultaneously playing musicians, combined with the form of the structure itself, create a conceptual unity which evokes the absurdity of nationalism and the ways in which war and especially military music is used to rally people together.