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Michael Elmgreen (left) and Ingar Dragset remadethe Danishand Nordic Pavilions at the 2009 Venice Biennale into the home and exhibition space for a fictional art collectoi; the traditional Polynesian sculpture was installed in the living room.

ORTHEFIRST TIME EVER, THESELECTION committee theUnited for States Pavilion the at Venice Biennale chosen artistcollaborahas an tive, the PuertoRico based teamof JenniferAlloraandGuillermo Calzadilla, whose conceptually based inslallations performance, blendscuipture, phologrdph] ideo fhrsr ho'rore'. "rd sound. I ert, hon far Ihe rodcl oI co l aborarrr,c, deaorientedart makinghascome, movingfrom the fringeto be on parwith the traditional archetype the artistasa soli of tary genius. "lt does a way legitimize typeof practice being in ouf as an equally validformof producing says art," Allora, who 36, became romantically invoLved Calzadilla, when rvith 39, they werestudents. Working together a natural was out growthof theirnonstop dialogue. Today they finisheach other's senlences amplilveach and other's thoughts. Hybrid rvorkssuchasthe one jn u,hicha musician emerges through a hole in a pianoto play Beethoven's to Joy on the key Ode boardbackwardsrecentlv pedormed the alriumof the in Museum Modern of Art-can takeyears gestate to concep tually.The duo madethe connection Beethoven's to anthem whilein lstanbul, laterfoundthe pianotheywanted and in a Munichbuilding u'ith a Nazihistory. Withouta signature style, theirart oftenseems havemultiple to personalities. "Thewholeprocess conr,'ersation seeing of and thingsfrom pointsof vielvis important," Calzadilla. "l different says personally whenthe partsaren'treconcilable the like and positions passed the work." get different into Theprocess isn't alwayssmooth.'Arguments importanttoo,"Allora are "Wefeelit'sessentiaLto adds. realiyconvince each other why it is you likesonething." jn Collaboration takenmanvguises modem In the has art. 1920s playfuilv and'30s. Surrealists the tweaked ideaof the an rndi vi dual dur\or\ rd.rqui ' i tpr orp.e- d gdme \ort < ol allowinga numberof artistseachto draw part of a figureon paper folded thatnonecouldsee wholeuntilthework so the $'ascomplete. And pairsoI artistsfrom LuisBuiuel andSal vadorDali to Andy WarholandJean MichelBasquiat have cometogetherin fruitful temporary partnerships which in individual styles contributions and remained apparent. But
Llilarie M Sheets a confribufinq edifor of ARTnelr,s. is

ARTnews

FEBRUARY 2011

She Freiman. creditsthat largelyto the '60sand '70ssawa new model like the fact that Oldenburg, Christo -including as emerye, couples solo had andKienholz, a distinct Ed Gilbert& George, and Nancy beforeteamingwith his wife. career andJeanneChristo Kienholz, says wasin partbeit But shealso and Oidenburg and Claude, Ciaes was cause Oldenburg the onewho van all Coosje Bruggen, of themroon drew the concept the pieceof manticaswell asartisticpartnerspaper."ln an erawhen ideasarethe startedmakingwork togetherin art, why werehe. ideasany less that lifelongpartnerships obscured Freiman asks.Like many valuable?" to As their individuality. opposed Allora and their contemporaries, of with a morefluid largercollectives had Calzadilla no publicartistic suchasthe Guediia membership, priorto theircollabora identities eachhave Girls,theseartist teams someof that which eliminates Lion, produced singlebody of work as a and Still,preconceptions baggage. shared authors. for linger;it's impossible two biases joint ventures pavedthe Those peopleto applyfor a Guggenheim of way for the currentgeneration with equalstaluson a Fellowship includingstraight collaborativessingleapplication. For their 2006 work clamor,lenniler sibfriends,and and gay couples, Cucher In 1995, whenSammy Allora and GuillermoCalzadilla lings.But they often facedresist Venezuela wasinvitedto represent researchedthe design of detensive to according LisaFreiman, ance, he Biennale, had to at the Venice bunkels and the history of military musiq art curatorof contemporary at the petitionto get Anthony Aziz in crealing a squat structure that issues the Museumof Art and Indianapolis "Collabora cludedashis partner. a din ol intermixed war songs from of commissioner the Allora and when we tion wasvery rare va ous cultures. exhibitionfor the U.S. Calzadilla now 52, who salisCucher, started," Sheis alsowriting a book Pavilion. in meIAziz, 49,in school 1991, work beforeand on Oldenburg's poiiticalsatire when they beganusingdigitalmediato create which beganin Bruggen, with van duringhis collaboration "Theideathat we are lwo gaymen,living aboutcensorship. until shediedin 2009."VanBruggen 1976and continued existed together-nota lot of rnodels working togethet says for wasalwayscdticized not beingan equalpartner,"

2011 ARTnews FEBRUARY

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Gilbert& George werethe guyswho gaveus permission to class and finishedeachother'scompositions. Since that bedo what we do." Cucher Aziz havenoticedsomerelucand ginning,they havebuilt an archiveof abstract dGwings tanceoverthe yearsfrom dealers work with artist teams to "characte$," they based their verbalexchanges. on These as because a perceived sk of instabilityin the brand."Colof callthem,in tum form the buildingblocksof their multimelectoNalsothink of the artist asthis rareindividualwho has dia installations donein collaboration with largercommunia parli( uldrkind of magic produce Io things Ihdtare ties,includingthe staff of the Albright Knox AIt Gallery in unique,"saysCucher Buffalo,wherethey will havea showin 2012."We keep Aziz,whoseheritage Lebanese, Cucher, is and whosefamtrack of our conversations, that dialogue actuallyan and is ily is living in Israel, now for the first time, addressing are artwork in itself,"savsChan. their personal relationship their work, interweaving in it with laryergeopolitical complexities video installations in DRAWINGSLIKEWISEBECAME avehicle for a 2012showat the Indianapolis Museum. Onepiece for exchanges amongmembers the CubanteamLos of tracksa typicalday at the pair'sstudio exceptthafthe Carpinteros-thoughnoneof the anistshad previously artistsare dressed clowns. as Againsta cacophony music of workedin the medium."We starteddoingthesedrawings, and radiodiscussions unrestin the Middle East,the of sometimes very elaborate, communicate to with eachother artistswheeltheir chai$ overto eachother'scomputers for your partnerof the idea,"saysMarcoCastillo. and convince discussion, photosto the wall, draw anowsbetween tack He wasoriginallya painter, joined forces school, but in in images, build scenes with tiny toy soldiers, setup a and the early 1990s, with Dagoberto Rodfiguez Alexandre and vjdeo shootof themselves dancing and holdinghands. (no Arrechea longerpart of the collaborative), were who "We'reperforming ourselves costumes; in we'renot acting "Wewrote lettersto eachother on workingwith carpentry. like clowns," says Aziz. "The costumes to do with a cer had thesedrawings." These highly conceptual large-scale works tain madness that'sgoingon there,"continues Cucher on paper, which humorously conflatebuilt spaces social and Certainlynot all artistshavethe temperament share to dynamics, an importantpart of their output, and several are authorship, somefall into their but areincluded their showthis month in collaborative rolesnatumlly. As at Sean Kelly Gallery NewYork. in undergraduates, the late l9B0s, in "We don't propose Sammy Curfier (left) and AnthonyAziz that the work has HeatherSchatz and Eric Chanspontain By Aporia, Pure and Simple,2010, a to be humorous, you canimagine but neouslyswitched chairsin a drawing video in whicfi the couple go about how funny it is to work in a team,"
their daily lives dressed as clowns.

" 4l saysRodriguez, "lt's not onlv alloui ,lrglLing Caslillo "RealLy?" collnters, "Humof tends to get dismissed the arl r! ofld as some by that's not scriousor valuable,!vhen it caf lle qulte thing ideas" noles seriousanclan important generatorc.rl " ar I -reim a n. lo t of lhe s e c ollabot ali' . es e t apping int o th e cf eat ivepo ssibililie s of plar,,there thcre'snot so nluch " sell ci:nsorship In humor anclan d-"ed, oflenla exlrovertcal iion see mto b e co m mon characleriSticS of nany teams loda\. "We n-"\,efstop $onde ng \rhv neN phe so.iocultural nomenaafe happen mg. ano our pfojects tlorr asking clerive ac sill-r'questions," cofdinglo Nlichael and llmgreen,.19, ,12. lngarDragset, a Scandi Llerlin-based navlanouo \! llo

to ard leamedup in 199-1. \ho |espliecl inler\.ie\\'qLLestions pieces inclucllng muLlime.lia in on.'\oice. Ihcir thenl.ical at thcif senclLrpol prclentiousa.t coll(r.1ofs thc 2009\icnice hone adofned!\'ith coleted a tltich Ieatlrrcd staged BiennaLc, gosslpnlg aboutthe and phonL rcal estat('ngents arh\'orLs thcre are p.oduct5ol theif e\lensile c\ pi,ople\\to li\'ecl oI cnanges loea5, anclcnlhusi r!oaries, (left) a5m."\\iorkrngas ar Working as Los Carpinteros, Oagobedo Rodriguez arlrstcluool aourse drawingsand fanciful and Marco Castillomake convoluted limils ho$ nafcissistic as scufptures-such Conga Negra (single),2010-asa team, one can be," the\,ob what to a piece who contributed neverrevealing "The outconle sef\,e. lle \!ill naturallV nore stnce .onlll]lrnraallve dis it $as al.c.rclY aussed bel$een mofe partles clunngtnc pfo(cssol feilLt/il & lion " Elnlgreen nfe Dfagset cuITfnllf a cfeatrng h\'o nlan tneatcrprolect on looselrbas-"cl lheif collaborati\,c lllled e\pellcnces, Ilapp\ Da\s iti the '\r/ llb/Jd. lo be

perfomed in Dublin in September and meeting placestlat we discovered." at Pedoma in New Yo* in November Ames says,"[ encouraged Andrcw to Performance the startingpoint was bring in all his personality,and he for the duo known asTypeA. Adam challengedme to bing in more rigorAmes,who workedin video, and Anousideasand thought."Both a.rtists drew Bordwin,odginallya photogragaveup tieir solo pmcticesin 2004 pher,met in the late 1990s though after visito$ to tieh studio were inAmes'sformer wife, the dealer Sara variablymoredrawnto their couaboEMeltzer,who was exhibitingBordwin tive work. In recentyears ftey have at the time. The artistsinitially felt become moreinvolvedwil}l large-scale competitive with each other over who sculptural installatiolr and their piece couldbe funnier or stronger Over .Barrer(2009) travels to the Aldrich time they became friendlier,and ContempomryArt Museumin Constartedcollaborating videosthat on necticut in June. "We keep each otier showedthe absurdityand pathosof honest," saysAmes. "You think about men competing-whether in a handthe rcmantic imageof the artist alone shakelastinghalf an hou! a mce to in the studio-where're l}Ie checks and scalea wall, or a literal pissingconAndrew Boldwin (left) and Adam balances? Who's keepingan eye on his test.Theywere constantlyback and orrntli^cp.6n.pni.?" Ame6of TYpe In one image from A forth between studios, brainstoming their tlv-part photo sedes dozens ideasat a time, someof of Sprfaake(rn7k), 2000,The pail A BUILT-IN SYSTEM torcriwhich wouldn't materializeuntil years trquently wolk wlth the themes of tique is a commontieme in discuslater dvahyand masqrlinity, in the as sionswith all theseduos."Everyartist "!Ve were still making work on our n@n faryet (pinl ,2O1O. debateswith themselves,thinks their own while working together,"says work through," saysMike Stam. "We Bordwiq 46, who describeshis or,rrn eachhave that intemally and then we photogmphsasbeing very theory based.'Adam challenged extemalize it as well," saysDoug Stam, completinghis my way of working asbeing incongruouswith who I am.We brothe/s thought. '1 think it really helps."The 48-year-old connectedon humor, and the work we do together is an identical twins, known for thet monumentalcomposite honest outgo&th of how our relationship started and the photographs,and more recently for sculptural work, have

ARTnews FBRUATY 2011

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worked stmight, without sleeping, and it waslike t}Ierc was a resources," saysMartin. "lt's aboutsupportin an emotional teamof eight of us," saysKavanaugh. 'The multiplier effect sense, too. It's very easyfor an artist to get demonlized.I of our energywastotally infectious,and,in my mind, that's think there are alsoa lot of unspokencollaborations. It why we've continuedto collaborate." wasn't alwaysacceptable collabonte." to A similar sort of efficiency comesfrom dividing up the Today, the tools for creatingall different kinds of as work. Walter Martin, 57, and PalomaMuioz. 44, who show conversations-throughcell phones,e-mails,Facebook, their installations snowglobesandphoto$aphsat ppOW of blogging-are fosteringmore collaboration throughout in New York, where they will have an exhibition in April, contemporarylife, and teamworkis taken asthe norm in t}le have worked together spheresof theater,fiLnfor 17 years.Unlike making,and televisio4 manyteams. their (left)and Stephen Wad Kavanaugh Nguyen buitdsite.spcltic our notions of artistic areasof expertiseare fmmersivefnstallations In papel, sudt as Strrped Canaryon the authoEhip are multiclearlydefined.MarSubtenanean llori6n,2oo5, at the Map Roomin por and,Maine. plying and becoming tin first builds the "l morecomplex. really model with clay and believewe are living in small figures, which a momentof tie spirit both artiststhen criof collaboration,"says tique and modify. If Aziz. 'Through the Init's a setfor a phototemet and socialnetgraph,Munoz creates working and platfoms the paintedbackdrop tiat exist,peopleshare and addsatmosphere information and rcand lightingbefore sources. Theret a taking the picture. greatersensethat that's "For us,it's a question how things get done, of economy some to not from isolation. degee-it's very effiThere'sa new model cientin termsof skills being formed for how and moneyand time artists think about the to be ableto pool our studio practice." I