janet cardiff’s forty part motet

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<learn:art> “we don’t consider ourselves artists. we use sound as tool to transport.'“

these are the opening words from a video produced by the museum of modern art (moma) titled, ‘the power of sound in janet cardiff's "forty part motet" | art and the senses’. janet is a canadian artist who works chiefly with sound and sound installations, often in collaboration with her husband and partner george bures miller. watching the video, you will appreciate her sensitivity to sound, and how she uses it like a painter chooses colors. personally, as someone who seeks out the potential of oft-overlooked sounds to be used to create a musical groove, i appreciate her craft and the weird and wonderful aspect of the art she creates.

the forty part motet refers to a piece of music <spem in alium> composed by thomas talis’ in the 16th century. it is an incredibly complex piece of music, consisting of a forty-part harmony. janet and george set about recording forty singers to create forty channels of the music to be broadcast via forty speakers. five versions of the work exist around the world.

the title of the song <isn’t nrm 2 c> is taken from george bures miller’s comment at the 1:49 mark of the video when he states, ‘we always thought it would be kind of cool to open a space that young people could come to and see something that isn’t normal for them to see.’ the gregorian-ish chanting that begins a few seconds earlier forms the primary groove of the song, after having been chopped and looped to suit the tempo of the song. george’s quote is repeated throughout, and is transformed from a fun, sincere, whimsical intention to something more sinister when paired with lyrics that reference the many things to which we are exposed that no longer seem unusual - brazen corruption by political elites and a political process twisted by the funding by corporates and oligarchs, plastics in our bloodstreams, an internet rife with misinformation and purposeful disinformation. these things no longer seem unusual, but we need to remind ourselves that these should not be treated as normal.