News	News category

B.C. artists, Toronto curator win Hnatyshyn art awards

03.12.2008 17:23 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

40-Part Motet by Janet Cardiff (2001). Each speaker has sound from a different voice and Cardiff changes the configuration to create a piece that engages viewers as they walk around the room.(Markus Tretter)B.C. installation artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, a husband and wife team who work in collaboration, have won the 2008 Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award.

The Hnatyshyn Foundation, named after former governor general Ray Hnatyshyn, annually presents a $25,000 prize for achievement by a Canadian artist and a $15,000 prize to a Canadian curator.

The winning curator is Barbara Fischer of the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at University of Toronto, who will curate the official Canadian entry in the 2009 Venice Biennale of Art.

Cardiff and Miller have a studio in Berlin and another in Grindrod, in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley and they create in both places.

They met in art school and have been collaborating in creating art, and influencing each other in solo works, since the 1980s.

In their installations, Cardiff and Miller create visual art that goes well beyond the visual, seeking to engage all the senses.

"We really like narrative storytelling, we love having an effect on people, to get them emotionally engaged," said Miller in an interview with CBC News.

Many of their installations involve sophisticated use of sound, including Cardiff's Forty-Part Motet, which won the Millennium Prize in 2000 and was exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada.

Killing Machine (2007), by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, is an ironic comment on torture involving a dentist's chair, robotic arms, fun fur and a disco ball. (Seber Ugarte & Lorena Lopez)The installation has 40 speakers around a room, each playing sound from a different voice as a choir sings a 11-minute piece of music.

"People go up to individual speakers and they hear what the singers would hear," Cardiff said. "Or they stand in the middle of the room and get the full effect of the voices combined."

Cardiff, who was born in Brussels, Ont., admits she is fascinated with the "physicality of sound."

She likes to create the experience of sound moving around a room in different combinations. Her newest work is a theatrical piece in which she narrates a dream sequence with surreal sound.

"We're hybrid artists," she said. "We incorporate aspects of film and theatre and the phenomenon of senses and sound. I love to manipulate how the senses understand our work."

Miller, who came from Vegreville, Alta., said he is interested in how "audiences allow filmmakers to suspend their disbelief and create an alternative sense of reality."

Their 2001 work The Paradise Institute, which won a special award at the Venice Biennale, is a reproduction of a 1940s movie theatre, with the scale slightly off.

A truncated version of a 1940s style black and white movie plays on the screen, while viewers hear the sounds of an old-time theatre — motion in the aisles, popcorn being eaten, whispering as well as the soundtrack — on headphones mounted on the seats.

Cardiff and Miller have exhibited around the world, including Germany and London.

The jury for the Hnatyshyn prize said their work has "contributed enormously to the evolution of contemporary art."

Paradise Institute (2001), interior view, by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. Viewers enter the installation and sit in real theatre seats, but the scale of the theatre shown is much smaller than reality. (Frederico del Prete)Their unique use of binaural "surround sound and haunting music creates enchanting immersive experiences. Cardiff and Miller draw upon boundless numbers of disciplines to wear together stories that confront the mysteries of the heart, the soul and the working of the human mind," the jury said.

The jury praised Fischer for the deep understanding of artists and their work that underlies her curatorial process.

"Barbara knows her community profoundly, which provides her with advance knowledge of the artistic questions that inspire that community and which, in turn, sustains the courage of her commitments," the jury said.

Fischer is a writer, lecturer and executive director of the Barnicke Gallery. She has worked as curator on solo exhibitions of contemporary Canadian artists such as John Greyson, Tanya Mars, Stan Douglas and Fastwurms as well as numerous group exhibitions.

She will curate the Canadian exhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale featuring work by Mark Lewis, a Hamilton, Ont.-born photographer and filmmaker who also won the Gershon Iskowitz prize this year.

Story Tools: E-MAIL | PRINT | Text Size: S M L XL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACK

External Links

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller

(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)

More Art & Design Headlines

15 years in the making, Australia gets a portrait gallery A new National Portrait Gallery opens Thursday in the Australian capital of Canberra, a project 15 years in the making.Art Spiegelman turns his talent to young readersArt Spiegelman, who moved the graphic novel into adult territory with his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic Maus, has set out to generate more respect for the comic form for young readers.Multidisciplinary artist Betty Goodwin dies at 85Betty Goodwin, one of Canada's most established and celebrated contemporary visual artists, has died at the age of 85.B.C. artists, Toronto curator win Hnatyshyn art awardsB.C. installation artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, a husband and wife team who work in collaboration, have won the 2008 Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award.Nunavut arts association to undergo auditThe Nunavut government says it hopes a special audit of the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association will help get the beleaguered organization back up and running.

More Arts Headlines

Brent Butt to stay behind scenes in new comedy HiccupsBrent Butt didn't write the role of Millie Upton, the dysfunctional children's writer in his new comedy Hiccups, with his wife in mind.Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica gets full season go-aheadThe final episodes of Battlestar Galactica will air in the new year, but a new prequel series to the hit sci-fi show is already on the horizon. U.S. network Sci-Fi Channel has given the go-ahead for production of a full season of Caprica. 15 years in the making, Australia gets a portrait gallery A new National Portrait Gallery opens Thursday in the Australian capital of Canberra, a project 15 years in the making.American folk music legend Odetta dies at 77Odetta, the folk singer with the powerful voice who moved audiences and influenced fellow musicians for a half-century, has died. She was 77.Edmonton filmmaker accused of murder enters not guilty pleaAn Edmonton filmmaker accused of luring and killing a man pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday.