by Onajídé Shabaka - 31 Oct., 2007

   Miami Art Museum Has a Winner

    by Onajídé Shabaka

We all loved MAC (Miami Art Central). We've all wondered about MAM (Miami Art Museum) and, their merger/partnership with MAC. If The Killing Machine and Other Stories, an exhibition featuring Janet Cardiff and George Miller is an indication, things look very good. MAC Chief Curator, Rina Carvajal, has been brought onto MAM's staff as Adjunct Curator.

This serpentine tour through Miami Art Museum's main galleries are a sensory stew barraging the viewers with sounds, music, voices, in sculptural and video forms. The ten installations create an audio-visual collage of dislocated audio effect that, along with the dark and mysterious spaces, disorient the viewer. The elements of fear, danger, and brooding are never far from the surface. The theatricality of life is woven into the works in such a way that we are totally enmeshed in its grip.

Janet Cardiff – George Bures Miller
Killing Machine, 2007
Mixed media, sound, pneumatics, robotics, 5 minute loop
118 x 157 x 98 inches
Courtesy of the artists, Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York
and Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin

After passing the Killing Machine in the first gallery, we have the opportunity to enter a miniaturized theatre to watch a short movie. After putting on the headphones there is a constant bantering from behind us that is funny and, annoying at the same time. But, the mood of the movie is anything but light and fun. (The bantering is an illusion provided by exquisite audio recording and playback.)

As a side note, I've provided my own image below of this installation because the officially provided image was dull and boring and, totally unable to give a sense of the space. The provided images were good illustrations for a curatorial team but, not something a viewer would find the least bit interesting.

Janet Cardiff – George Bures Miller
The Paradise Institute (detail), 2001
Mixed media audio installation.
Courtesy Janet Cardiff
© Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, 2007

Traveling from installation to installation does gather weight and, thank goodness there were only ten installations. Besides, there was so much to see, and experience, those ten installations could give anyone many hours of viewing without finding their way to the bottom of them.

We all hope that Miami Art Museum keeps up this programming because this is powerful work that speaks to many of us citizens of the world.

Janet Cardiff – George Bures Miller
The Dark Pool, 1995
Mixed media audio installation.
Courtesy Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller - Killing Machine and Other Stories
October 21, 2007 to January 20, 2008
Miami Art Museum
101 West Flagler Street
Miami, FL 33130
305.375.3000

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