“SFMOMA On The Go” 40-Speaker Choral Sound Installation | Fort Mason

Experience acclaimed media artist Janet Cardiff’s masterwork, an immersive and moving sound installation in its California debut from November 14, 2015–January 18, 2016.

The Forty Part Motet is a 40-part choral performance of English composer, Thomas Tallis’s 16th-century composition Spem in Alium, sung by the Salisbury Cathedral Choir. The performance is played in a 14-minute loop that includes 11 minutes of singing and 3 minutes of intermission.

Individually recorded parts are projected through 40 speakers arranged inward in an oval formation, allowing visitors to walk throughout the installation, listening to individual voices along with the whole. Cardiff’s layering of voices creates an emotionally evocative sound sculpture that feels intimate, even within a public space.

The Forty Part Motet
November 14, 2015–January 18, 2016 (except holidays)
Wed–Sat: noon–8 pm, Sun: 11 am – 5 pm
Fort Mason Center, Gallery 308, Landmark Building A, 2 Marina Blvd, SF
FREE, but advanced tickets are strongly recommended due to anticipated demand and limited capacity.

> Tickets “sold out”? – Don’t worry too much – Same day walk-up tickets will be offered on site as available.

Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day)

The exhibition is Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture’s inaugural presentation at Gallery 308, a newly renovated historic space with sweeping views of San Francisco Bay, and SFMOMA’s final On the Go program before the museum’s new building opens in spring 2016.