40 part motet
Justin Davidson, guest posting to Alex Ross’s blog The Rest is Noise, has a great bit today on Janet Cardiff’s installation at the MoMA in New York, “40 Part Motet.” I love this closing graf, connecting Cardiff to remix culture…
To me, there’s something deeply touching about hitching one’s imagination to another person’s - not as a form of exploitation, reiteration, or even homage - but as an acknowledgment that you don’t have to start from scratch. It’s the reason I like Robert Rauschenberg’s art, or (some) modern additions to old architecture. What Cardiff has done is not so different from what DJs do all the time. It’s a Tallis remix. But so loving, so simnple, so magical.
The piece blew me away when I saw it in October; on its own it’s worth the $20 MoMA admission price. Go.