A new space of artistic expression is filling a vacant warehouse in Enderby.
Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller are opening the Cardiff Miller Art Warehouse in Enderby.
The space will display a selection of their immersive large-scale installations, some of which have never shown before in Canada.
The public are invited to the opening Saturday, July 29 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the former Ashley’s Furniture showroom at 507 Granville St.
Cardiff, who hails from a farm outside the village of Brussels, ON., and Miller, from Vegreville, Alta., are art collaborators as well as a married couple. In 2001 they were selected to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale (considered the Art Olympics) where they were awarded the International Prize for their work The Paradise Institute.
“We’ve always wanted a permanent home to showcase our largest installations and when we discovered this huge space so close to where we live, we knew it was perfect,” said Miller.
In the fall they’re hoping to host school tours and art students from local universities.
“I grew up in rural Ontario and I had a great art teacher that showed us alternative art that was happening around the world,” said Cardiff. “I guess in ways I’m imagining that we’re partially starting this project for the farm kid that I was.”
Cardiff and Miller have exhibited widely in the last several decades, including current shows at The Tingluey Museum in Basel and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Other recent shows include The Museum of Modern Art in New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey, Mexico; The Oude Kerk, Amsterdam; The 21st Century Museum, Kanazawa, Japan; and The Reina Sofía Museum, Madrid. They currently have large installations showing at AROS in Denmark, INHOTIM in Brazil, Glenstone Museum in Maryland, and The National Gallery of Canada. In 2020 they were awarded the Lehmbruck Prize for sculpture by the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum in Germany.
The gallery’s regular hours into the fall will be Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 1 to 5 p.m. Volunteers are appreciated and welcomed. For more information write CMA@cardiffmiller.com. Those interested in learning more about the artists can visit cardiffmiller.com.
The inaugural exhibition includes a selection of several major works, one of which, The Marionette Maker (2014), will be making its Canadian debut. This kinetic artwork, first shown at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid Spain, comprises a full-scale vintage caravan that houses a myriad of robotic characters in a haunting environment.
Murder of Crows (2008) is a 98 channel audio installation that makes use of the expansive space of the warehouse with audio speakers.
The Forty Part Motet (2001), a virtual choir installation, is a re-working of Thomas Tallis’ Spem In Alium, a 16th century 40-part harmony choral composition. This intensely emotional piece of music was recorded with the Salisbury choir in England and is replayed back using one separate audio speaker for each of the 40 voices, creating a very physical and sculptural experience of a Renaissance piece of music.
The Poetry Machine (2017) is a small vintage organ with various old speakers around it. If a key is pressed on the organ, you hear Leonard Cohen’s beautiful, gravelly voice reading one poem from The Book of Longing. Each key on the organ contains a different poem from the book.
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