Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller | Small Works

Saturday, March 22 – Saturday, June 14, 2025

12:00–19:00

[Opening Reception: March 22, 5-7pm]

*Janet Cardiff will join the reception.

*Closed on Sundays, Mondays,  National Holidays, and April 1st. 

Tokyo, Japan – Gallery Koyanagi is proud to announce the upcoming exhibition Small Works by renowned Canadian artists Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, opening on Saturday, March 22, 2025. The exhibition will run through Saturday, June 14, 2025, and marks the duo's second collaboration with the gallery, following their first show in 2013. This exhibition is also their first in Japan since the 2018 retrospective at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Ishikawa.

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller have captivated global audiences with their groundbreaking multimedia installations, which blend sound and objects to create immersive environments. Known for their innovative Walk series, which engages viewers in walking tours guided by Cardiff’s voice and sometimes accompanied by video imagery, the artists explore the complex relationship between perception, memory, and the physical world. Their large-scale sound installations, which use numerous loudspeakers to build intricate acoustic spaces, have made them icons in contemporary art.

In Small Works, the artists take a different approach, presenting a collection of 11 small, wall-mounted pieces that include seven new works shown for the first time in Japan. These intimate assemblages, sometimes partially mechanical, fabricated from various objects collected from around their studio include small horns playing collages of sound, music or voice. They invite viewers into Cardiff and Bures Miller’s playful world. Despite their small scale, these works maintain the duo’s signature style of blending “seeing” and “hearing,” creating immersive environments that stir both fascination and unease.

Notable pieces include The Suitcase Theatre, a surrealistic miniature stage which combines the physical and the virtual. Hand made figurines enact small dramas that blend the playfully charming and funny with the eerie, enticing the viewer to interact themselves with the figurines. Another work, Mechanism of Drowning, is an assemblage inspired by a textbook article on the study of drowning dogs for medical purposes. Most of the works in the exhibition are silent until the viewer presses a button to trigger sound and sometimes movement.

A special highlight of the exhibition will be the artist’s participation in a reception on the opening day, Saturday, March 22, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Janet Cardiff will be present to meet visitors and discuss her work, providing an opportunity for attendees to engage more deeply with the artist’s creative process.

                                                                    Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Suitcase Theatre, 2020/2023                                                                                         

Additionally, during the exhibition period, the Hara Museum ARC in Gunma will be showcasing Cardiff’s The Forty Part Motet, a stunning 16th-century polyphonic motet performed by 40 choir members and played through 40 speakers, creating a unique and immersive sound experience. The work will also be shown sequentially at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, and the Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art.

We invite you to experience the world of Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller through Small Works, an exhibition that invites contemplation, engagement, and an exploration of the intricate relationship between sound, sight, and memory.

Photo: Keizo Kioku