Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller

Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller create altered states of perception manipulating sound, smell, sight, light, space and texture in their installations. Parallel sound, visual and spatial effects provoke overwhelming emotional states by touching our sensorial strings, which trigger journeys into the core matrix of memory, imagination and suspense. There is no definite meaning in their work; they use a subjective approach as Cardiff explains: "We use our intuition; it’s old fashioned but we just have to trust what feels good."

"I just write all the crap down that comes to my head", interrupts Bures Miller, "and then edit it later, because otherwise I wouldn’t remember it. I mean, Bob Dylan wrote that he doesn’t write a song down until he thinks it’s good. He says “If it’s good, I’ll come back”, so he plays them in his head, whereas I think Leonard Cohen probably writes down all his lyrics and then edits them like crazy … I don’t know anything about how he works but, I mean, with Dylan it is Stream of Consciousness – I’m a firm believer in Stream of Consciousness: working it out that way."

The Dark Pool (1995) is a secret studio or laboratory, possibly hidden in a basement. It is up to the viewer to discover the origin of the scattered scientific sketches and ideas, crumbled notebooks, worn-out suitcases, and old gramophone horns displayed all around in order to come up with a subjective experience or storyline as a whole.  Bures Miller explains:  "There’s something about encrusted rooms that interests us … the past, the truths… Our memory is stimulated when coming close to these artefacts and the fragments of dialogue, music and whispered messages heard through speakers and horns."

We are invited to have a peek at a miniature cinema in The Muriel Lake Incident (1999), while listening to the soundtrack though headphones. But a second plot seems to take place inside the cinema, projecting us beyond this small world into a larger fictional space. The artists’ work has to be experienced in relation to film noir and other experimental genres. "We are influenced by American and Canadian pop culture", as Cardiff explains. Chris Marker’s La Jetée and Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon has been a considerable influence for its explorative montage and linear narrative: "There is this intimate connection through voice with the public", she emphasises, "People know me through my voice and they create a picture of me in their minds, which is strange. We chose to use our own voices in our pieces because we want to represent an interior voice, rather than just an actor’s voice."

In Road Trip (2005) we are presented with a slide projector, with Cardiff and Miller discussing the slides to be used, their order and synchronization. Miller’s grandfather took these images on a trip from Calgary to New York City. The artists’ conversation reveals an exposed relationship between past and present, and a journey within a journey: the preparation process of an installation.

The House of Books Has No Windows (2008) was made especially for this Oxford exhibition. It is the only work without sound, a house built of library books, which can be entered. A short story by Jose Luis Borges, The Library of Babel, and the art of storytelling are the inspirations for this piece. "House of Books is simple; you see it and you get it right away. In there, your mind closes in itself - you don’t need windows because you’ve got books."

With The Killing Machine (2007) Miller explores the contemporary world and the widespread disregard for human rights and the, ironically, inhuman use of punishment. This is no ordinary dental clinic chair. Pink fur, dental tools which take the form of robotic arms, flashing televisions, blue piercing rays of light, a glitter ball and sinister string roars epitomize today’s abuse of power. A red button to challenge the viewer to become observer or participant is the tipping point of this extraordinary collection.

An Interview with Janet Cradiff & George Bures Miller by Rushkin students and supported by Outset Contemporary Art Fund. The House of Books Has No Windows exhibition at the Modern Art Oxford runs until 18th January 2009.