WESTERN FRONT – The Dark Pool

Description:

Following a month-long residency at Western Front, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller presented The Dark Pool. The new installation combined interactive audio, video, and photographic elements in combination with an assemblage of furniture, books, objects, and mechanical devices to explore expanded forms of narrative. As viewers navigated the installation, they triggered a layered soundscape of music and dialogue. The work built on Cardiff’s work To Touch (1993), a wooden carpenter’s table embedded with motion sensors that emitted pre-recorded sounds.

A bird's-eye view of a dark wooden table full of scattered objects and mechanical paraphernalia. The objects include closed and open books with objects on top, speakers, plates full of organics, a dirty mug, and a tray of ten dirty tea cups. At the corner of the table, there's a big old open chest.

A spot light in a dimly lit room illuminates a lacquered wooden chair that faces the viewer. Framing the chair on either side, there are large antique megaphones. Each megaphone is propped up on a sidewalk sign type object which sits on the wooden floor.

A warm lightbulb placed on top of a small pile of books illuminates the objects on a dark wooden desk. A document, books, and electronic technology seem purposely scattered on the desk. On the left side of the desk sit a pair of dark, feathery wings and a tall glass aquarium tank with water and a device inside it.

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Captions:

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Dark Pool, installation view, Feb 25 – Mar 24, 1995. Photo by Reece Metcalfe.
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Dark Pool, installation view, Feb 25 – Mar 24, 1995. Photo by Reece Metcalfe.
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Dark Pool, installation view, Feb 25 – Mar 24, 1995. Photo by Reece Metcalfe.
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Dark Pool, installation view, Feb 25 – Mar 24, 1995. Photo by Reece Metcalfe.
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Dark Pool, installation view, Feb 25 – Mar 24, 1995. Photo by Reece Metcalfe.
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Dark Pool, installation view, Feb 25 – Mar 24, 1995. Photo by Reece Metcalfe.
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Dark Pool, installation view, Feb 25 – Mar 24, 1995. Photo by Reece Metcalfe.
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: The Dark Pool, installation view, Feb 25 – Mar 24, 1995. Photo by Reece Metcalfe.

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Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.