Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: Opera for A Small Room July 2, 2009

This collaborative exhibit introduces visitors to the quirky world of a man named R. Dennehy, the owner of a collection of opera records that the artists purchased at a second-hand store in British Columbia, Canada. The installation, which Cardiff and Miller describe as "a small room for the opera of Dennehy's life," features a structure filled with records, lights, and other knickknacks. Visitors can peer into the ramshackle room through holes in the walls, but are not able to enter it. Music pouring out of 24 antique loud speakers permeates the gallery, echoed by the rhythm of pulsating lights. The music, record players, and lights become the "actors" in this theatrical and durational work that conveys a dramatic and individual narrative portrait.