| Listening to the mind at play | ||
|---|---|---|
| Contextual map | Visual reference | Generative process |
| Artists A - Z | Artwork A - Z | Key content |
| Audience participation | Social setting | Research process |
| Title: |
| Forty-Part Motet: Version One (British Edition) |
| Artist(s): |
| Janet Cardiff, George Bures Miller |
| Brief description of the work: |
| 40 track audio installation of 'Spem in Alium nunquam habui', written by Thomas Tallis (16th century) Duration: 14:07 |
| Materials, dimensions, duration: |
| Recording of eight choirs of five voices, each voice represented by a speaker at head height. |
| Location (venue & dates, public/ private): |
| Originally produced in 2001. Seen at "Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: Recent Works" exhibition at Millennium Galleries Sheffield, 11.02. -18.04.2004, also exhibited 12 April - 7 September 2003 Tate Gallery Liverpool |
| Audience information (size, mode of participation): |
| Several audience members could walk through the installation at their own pace |
| Other information (reviews, collaborators, funders): |
|
The work was produced by Field Art Projects with the Arts Council
of England, Canada House, the Salisbury Festival and Salisbury Cathedral
Choir, BALTIC Gateshead, The New Art Gallery Walsall and the NOW
Festival Nottingham with the assistance of Tascam UK and B&W Loudspeakers.
Forty-Part Motet 2001 (British Edition) was lent by Pamela and Richard Kramlich and the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, fractional and promised gift. |
| Floorplan, scheme: |
|
| Visual/ audio-visual reference: |
 |
| Key theme(s): |
| Interplay and fusion between participant's physical presence and perceived reality (projected sound); dislocation |
| Further context: |
|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfJ9Z4O8ZJw
The most intriguing aspect of the work is the recreation of a live performance.The individuality of each of the singers' voices has been preserved in the multi-channel recording, and so a stunning discrepancy between life-like sound and absence of singer can be experienced. Tallis' music, composed for Elizabeth I's 40th birthday, "deals with transcendence and humility, both important issues to a Catholic composer during a time when the Catholic faith was suppressed" (Tate online) |