Forty-Part Motet

“I am interested in how audio affects our perception of the physical world. We understand three-dimensional space by using our vision, but also by the character of sounds we hear. If these sounds are manipulated and changed, then our perception of reality can be drastically affected.” 
—Janet Cardiff

By exploring the spatial qualities of sound, few other artists have influenced the actual notion of what sculpture can be than Janet Cardiff. For five weeks the installation many regard as Cardiff’s masterpiece, Forty-Part Motet, will transform the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Reid Gallery into a unique art setting. Forty speakers, mounted on stands and displayed in an oval circle facing inwards, play Spem in Alium, a 16th-century choral work by Thomas Tallis. Since each member of the choir was recorded separately, one can hear the individual voices of the choir coming from the different speakers and what usually is experienced as a distant, closed group or impersonal recording suddenly becomes approachable and haunting.

This exhibition is part of a programming collaboration with MOCA Cleveland, who will be presenting The Paradise Institute by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller from March 16–June 9, 2013.