Any installation from Janet Cardiff (often with her husband George Bures Miller) is a fascinating and multi-layered experience. One of my favourite pieces by this British Columbia artist is a solo work entitled The 40 Part Motet. I saw (heard) the piece during its installation as part of Montreal’s Musee de Beaux Arts show, How long does it take for one voice to reach another?

In the work, 40 individual voices play, each through its own speaker, to create the impression of listening to the choir in person. The motet, Thomas Tallis’s Spem in alium nunquam habui (In no other is my hope) dates from the late 1500s and moves from quiet to soul-stirring. As an auditor, you can choose to sit and take it all in at once or move around the room and listen to a very specific person. 

This ability to hold so many juxtapositions in one piece—complexity/simplicity, ancient/modern, singular/plural, intimate/colossal—is one of my hallmarks for great art.