Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: The Factory of Shadows

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller have been selected as the featured artists for the 2025 edition of solo show, a monographic exhibition promoted by Anozero in the years between biennials. Based in Canada, the duo is internationally celebrated for their immersive multimedia sound installations and their audio/video walks.

In Coimbra, they will showcase over a dozen works at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova, from April 5 to July 5. The Factory of Shadows is the title of the exhibition, curated by the Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra (Círculo). Highlights include the much-acclaimed Forty Part Motet and the first presentation outside the United States of The Infinity Machine.

Presenting their work in a solo show in Portugal for the first time, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller are described by Carlos Antunes, director of the Círculo, as “among the most significant inheritors of a certain Wagnerian notion of the total work of art — Gesamtkunstwerk — though here stripped of any operatic visual exuberance.”

Using minimal scenic elements — tables, chairs, speakers, mirrors, books, musical instruments, vintage televisions, and other old technological devices — their work captures the attention of all the spectator’s senses, particularly exploring the sculptural qualities of sound. For Carlos Antunes, The Factory of Shadows serves as “a trigger for revisiting our individual and collective memories.”

In light of the complex history and architectural significance of the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova — a religious site later transformed into a military barracks and now home to Anozero — The Factory of Shadows aims to offer new interpretations of this monastic complex, reframing both the artists’ work and the space itself. The presence of this artist duo in such an emblematic building firmly establishes it as a central venue for contemporary art in Portugal and Europe.