Vieques Videos 2003–2010 documents three films by Allora & Calzadilla which address the history of Vieques, an island off Puerto Rico that was, until recently, used by the United States Navy as a weapons testing range. Filmed over the course of a decade, Returning a Sound (2004), Under Discussion (2005) and Half Mast/Full Mast (2010) form part of the civil disobedience campaign waged by local residents to protest against these target practices. Within the book, stills from each of the films are balanced by a large visual essay of historic documentation collected by Allora & Calzadilla, which underpins much of their work. The landscape photograph on cover, taken by the artists, has been overprinted in black gloss ink – a commentary on the way in which Vieques is now being advertised as an unspoiled natural paradise to holidaymakers and property developers, in denial of its turbulent past.
