In less than three weeks, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller will fill Park Avenue Armory's vast drill hall with their most ambitious sound installation to date. An otherworldly soundscape created using nearly 100 speakers, THE MURDER OF CROWS will immerse visitors in a vivid narrative realized through the artists' evocative and poetic use of sound-from crashing waves to a marching band to the hubbub of a factory floor. Woven together, these sounds create a haunting melodrama, exploring concepts of love, loss, and vulnerability.
Artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller animate Park Avenue Armory's cavernous drill hall this August with a dream-like soundscape that envelops audiences in a poetic and visceral
sonic experience. In its U.S. premiere, The Murder of Crows continues Cardiff & Miller's exploration of physical and sculptural attributes of sound in their largest sound installation to date, transforming the Armory's 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall into an immersive environment where sound alone creates vivid imagery and narrative structure. Created in collaboration with Freida Abtan, Tilman Ritter, and Titus Maderlechner, the three-part, 30-minute composition weaves together a fluttering of voices, music, and sounds to construct a captivating and confounding melodrama that investigates concepts of love, loss, and vulnerability.
On view from August 3 through September 9, 2012, THE MURDER OF CROWS was co-commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and is presented by the Armory in association with the Mostly Mozart Festival. The installation at the Armory is complemented by special programming presented in conjunction with the Mostly Mozart Festival: "The Music of Birds," a panel discussion moderated by
John Schaefer, and a performance by the International Contemporary Ensemble, who will perform works by
John Cage, Olivier Messiaen, and world premiere works by Marcos Balter and Suzanne Farrin. Both events will be held on Sunday, August 12, in the Armory's first floor historic rooms.
"Janet and George have a keen ability to create narrative and conjure up imagery through the movement of abstract sound. THE MURDER OF CROWS draws audiences into a surreal world populated with wondrous and disquieting characters," said
Rebecca Robertson, president and executive producer of Park Avenue Armory. "Visitors to the Armory will be subsumed into this work which, like an instrument tuned for the space, transforms the drill hall into an enthralling auditory world."
Three of Janet Cardiff's dreams serve as the basis forTHE MURDER OF CROWS, which is structured like a play or a film but with imagery generated only by voice, music, and sound effects. Created using special binaural recording techniques, the installation transports the audience across time and space through the evocative and sometimes disorienting use of sound. Ninety-eight speakers mounted on stands, chairs, and walls throughout the drill hall give voice to the various scenes and characters in this enigmatic composition-from crashing waves to a marching band to the hubbub of a factory floor. Emanating from a gramophone speaker at the center of the installation, Cardiff's detached voice recounts a series of disturbing dreams-providing an armature for the work.
General admission is $12, and prices for students/seniors is $10. For more information, log on to www.armoryonpark.org.
