By Andrew M. Goldstein
VENICE—Allora & Calzadilla‘s show for the Venice Biennale‘s United States pavilion has generated a near-deafening amount of buzz since previews began at the international exhibition earlier this week, with its overturned tank-turned-treadmill sculpture outside its entrance emitting a clarion clackety-clack to draw in hundreds of people to wait in line to see what the fuss is all about. This morning, the show — featuring eight professional gymnasts doing routines on replicas of business-class airline seats, an organ/ATM hybrid, and a video filmed on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques — opened to the public with a bang worthy of the buildup: a performance on the tank’s treadmill by Dan O’Brien, the 1996 Summer Olympics decathlon gold medalist once heralded on the cover of Newsweek as “Mr. Olympics.”
More on the works by Allora & Calzadilla:
New York Magazine: Jerry Saltz on the Ugly American at the Venice Biennale
Art Info: “It’s an Art Project, Let’s Keep It at That”: A Q&A With American Diplomat David Mees on the Politics of the U.S. Pavilion
Los Angeles Times: At the Venice Biennale, national artists know no boundaries
The L Magazine: America’s Allora & Calzadilla Crushing Competition at Venice Biennale
Finextra: Musical ATM goes on display at Venice Biennale
The New York Times: Venice Biennale: An Installation Art Contest and Venice Biennale: Money Talks, Make That Sings
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