Visiting the exhibition Something Strange This Way at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum the public will have a chance to see six extraordinary multimedia installations by the internationally renowned Canadian artist duo Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller. The art duo is known as artists devoted to the medium of sound. Many of us will have experienced, or heard about, their so-‐called ‘walks’ with Cardiff’s intimate and thoughtful voice guiding us through public spaces. However, though sound is prominent, they also work within many other kinds of media. Since the mid-‐1990s they have created a number of large, interactive and spectacular installations featuring sound, music, narrative, found objects as well as compelling light effects. These are the kinds of art works that form the core of the exhibition Something Strange This Way.
The title of the exhibition refers to mysterious places, amusement parks and museums where strange and bizarre forces are at play. Like a large number of Cardiff and Miller’s works the exhibition plays on our expectations; they provoke our curiosity and seduce us, before twisting and revealing a new dimension.
Cardiff and Miller deliberately use effects from melodrama and from the entertainment industry. The bright and gaudy staging, the unexpected sequences of events, and the pulsating lights entice us like the rides in the amusement park. Their theatrical and carefully choreographed moods are accomplished through the use of sound, light, and special effects. They successfully simulate lightning, thunder and the passing of trains that make everything tremble. The artists manage to achieve this without making the works look like hollow glittering shells. They make up narratives of longing and desire, of loss and love.
The exhibition will run until April 19, 2015
Something Strange This Way
Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller
November 29 – April 19, 2015
AroS Aarhus Art Museum
Denmark
www.en.aros.dk
Image credits
– Installation view photo by Anders Sune Berg
– Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller
i Grindrod, Canada. Photo by Zev Tiefenbach
©Courtesy the Artists.
