Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller
Lost in the Memory Palace
Until August 18, 2013
Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas Street West
Toronto
Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller are known internationally for their pioneering spirit and groundbreaking approach to making art. This exhibition focuses on their collaboration from the mid-1990s to today. Immerse yourself in their artworks: each room opens up to imaginary realms where narratives blend and merge, transporting you into the artists’ meticulously detailed worlds of sound, light and imagery. Spanning a period from key early pieces such as Dark Pool (1995) and The Muriel Lake Incident (1999) to recent works including Killing Machine (2007) and Storm Room (2009), Lost in the Memory Palace consists of a series of seven discrete immersive environments. These installations, all of which have a strong architectural character, are imaginary spaces where time slows down and is altered, allowing fictional and historical narratives to blend and merge with the viewer’s own experience and memory. As environments that viewers understand to be art yet with which they willingly engage both physically and psychically, Cardiff and Miller’s works encourage shifts in consciousness and create uniquely compelling possible worlds.
Accompanying the exhibition is a special presentation of Cardiff’s The Forty Part Motet (2001), the Millennium Prize-winning sound installation that has become a perennial favourite among museumgoers worldwide.
Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Vancouver Art Gallery
Generously supported by:
Cecily & Robert Bradshaw
Gerald Sheff & Shanitha Kachan
Bill Morneau & Nancy McCain
Jay Smith & Laura Rapp
With assistance from:
Lawrence Luhring & Roland Augustine
Supported by Canada Council for the Arts
