"I placed the speakers around the room in an oval so that the listener would be able to really feel the sculptural construction of the piece by Tallis." Artist Janet Cardiff. The Forty-Part Motet (2001) by Canadian artist Janet Cardiff is an immersive sculpturally-conceived sound piece, in which 40 separately recorded voices are played back through 40 peakers. This evocative installation uses recordings of the Salisbury Cathedral choir singing Spem in Alium Nunquam Habui (1573) by Thomas Tallis, one of England's most influential Renaissance composers.
Janet Cardiff, The Forty Part Motet, 2001
Courtesy of the artist, Janet Cardiff. Originally produced by Field Art Projects with the Arts Council of England, Canada House, the Salisbury Festival and Salisbury Cathedral Choir, BALTIC Gateshead, The New Art Gallery Walsall, and the NOW Festival Nottingham
Image: Janet Cardiff, The Forty-Part Motet, 2001, Installation view, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Photo: Jens Ziehe, Courtesy the artists, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin and Luhring Augustine, New York
