In 2005, Allora and Calzadilla were commissioned to create a project for the Venice Biennale. The result, Hope Hippo, was a life-size figure of a resting hippopotamus made of mud supporting a volunteer who read the daily newspaper. The casual performer, who changed each day during the course of the exhibition, blew a whistle when coming across an alleged injustice in the daily newspaper.
     The pair’s most famous work is their recent piece Stop, Repair, Prepare. This sculptural performance consisted of a grand piano with a hole in its body through which a pianist stood and performed Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” (the anthem of the European Union as well as the inauguration song for a Nazi propaganda building) while pushing the piano around the exhibition space. Stop, Repair, Prepare is heavy in its conceptual and art-historical references and successfully bridges many of the duo’s interests.
     Their works are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, and Centre Georges Pompidou, among others. Major exhibitions include the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (2007); Kunsthalle Zurich (2007); Dallas Museum of Art (2006); SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (2006); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2004); and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2004). Residencies include P.S. 1 Contemporary Arts Center, Long Island City, New York (1998–99); Whitney Independent Study Program New York, New York (1998-99); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003–04); and Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2004).