As Cardiff explains, ‘With this piece I want the audience to be able to experience a piece of music from the viewpoint of the singers. Every performer hears a unique mix of the piece of music. I am interested in how sound may physically construct a space in a sculptural way and how a viewer may choose a path through this physical yet virtual space.’

One of the most acclaimed sound works of the twenty-first century, The Forty Part Motet is on loan from The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. It is the first project realised through the Memorandum of Understanding between M+ and MoMA, signed in February 2025.

Image at top: Janet Cardiff. The Forty Part Motet (A reworking of ‘Spem in Alium’, by Thomas Tallis 1556), 2001, forty-track sound recording and forty speakers, 14 min. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder in memory of Rolf Hoffmann, 2002, © 2025 Janet Cardiff. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York. Installation view of  Take Two. Worlds and Views: Contemporary Art from the Collection. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Thomas Griesel