“THE MURDER OF CROWS” (2008), BY JANET CARDIFF AND GEORGE BURES MILLER, IS ONE OF THE NEW PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS INAUGURATING IN INHOTIM

The Instituto Inhotim is celebrating the inauguration of “The Murder of Crows” (2008) by Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, on Thursday, October 1st, 2009, from 9h30 to 16h30. It opens as part of the event titled “Nine New Destinations”, presenting to the public nine new permanent works in Inhotim, produced by the Instituto Inhotim, with the support of XXX, and curated by Allan Schwartzman, Jochen Volz and Rodrigo Moura.

For “The Murder of Crows,” 98 audio speakers are mounted in the space on stands, chairs and the walls creating an orchestra-like set up, inviting the visitor to sit in the center on designated chairs. The audio work emanates from all speakers, generated by special polyphonic recording and replay techniques. It is comprised of recorded marches, lullabies, spoken text and musical compositions as well as incidental effects, one sound moving into another, evoking a dreamlike narrative with a startling, disconcerting immediacy.

The installation is conceived like a film or a play, but one whose images and narrative structures are created by sound alone. It is inspired by Goya’s etching “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” (1799) and it’s title refers to the behavior of crows, which live, hunt, mourn and caw in flocks. The artist’s voice comes occasionally out of the centrally placed megaphone, telling sequences of apocalyptical dreams. "The Murder of Crows", the artists largest sound installation to date, will be presented in a vast, newly completed gallery as part of Inhotim’s expansion. The piece has duration of 30 minutes and is composed in collaboration with Freida Abtan, Tilman Ritter and Titus Maderlechner.

Cardiff and Bures Miller are at the forefront of a generation of artists who employ advanced technology and work in a variety of media, including video, installation and recorded sound. As in their previous works, such as "Playhouse" (1997), "The Paradise Institute" (2001) or “The Berlin Files” (2003), the artists have repeatedly examined audiovisual perception and the viewer's illusion, exploring the creation of sculptural and physical sounds. The piece alludes to narrative motifs, while the three-dimensional soundtrack not only involves the viewer in the events of the story, but also makes him a part of a simulated reality.
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller  (Brussels, Canada, 1957; Vegreville, Canada, 1960; both live in Berlin, Germany and Grindrod, Canada) have collaborated in a large number of projects since the 1990s. In 2001, they presented “The Paradise Institute” in the Canadian Pavilion of the 49th Venice Biennial. And in 1998, Janet Cardiff presented “Drogan’s Nightmare” (1998) as part of the XXIV Bienal de São Paulo. Since 2004, Cardiff’s “Forty Part Motet” (2001) is continuously on display at Galeria Praça in Inhotim.