Allora & Calzadilla

The newly commissioned sculpture Unspecified Promise (2017) by artist duo Allora & Calzadilla is a contemporary interpretation of the granite monument that reflects on the political and technological issues of our time.

Inspired by both a general sense of loss and hope that is personal to the artists, the work explores how the United States’ policies towards the Hispanic Caribbean Islands of Puerto Rico and Cuba have impacted the social, economic, and political realities in the region and for members of its diaspora, many of whom reside in Miami. The work’s more than thirty tons of black granite forms an incomplete symmetry with half of a construction loader. The mirror-like finish on the stone’s polished side reflects the missing half of the loader, creating the illusion of a whole. Continuing the artists’ sublime and surreal treatments of the massive machines that power our lives, industries, and militaries, the sculpture invokes a complex social matrix.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.