“How long does it take for one voice to reach another?”

The exhibition’s inspiration and themes

“How long does it take for one voice to reach another?” explores the concept of the voice in both its physical and metaphorical registers, asking through art what it is to find meaningful connection after the long period of isolation we have just come through. Drawn from a line of poetry by Carolyn Forché, its title bears a special history. Inscribed in stainless steel into the floor of the Promenade, on Level S1 of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion, it is part of a work that Betty Goodwin created in 1991 for the pavilion’s inauguration. Beyond its local resonance, the poetic question has broader reach in our current historical moment, when too many voices go unheard and those that are listened to, more often than not, are mediated by the television, computer or smartphone screen.

The exhibition unfolds thematically, delving into the notion of voice not only as a sonic phenomenon but also as a culturally elaborated metaphor: a site where discourses and ideas, communities and connections are made manifest and challenged through embodied practice. Rebecca Belmore, Geneviève Cadieux, Janet Cardiff, Hannah Claus, Stanley Février, Betty Goodwin, Shilpa Gupta, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Nadia Myre and Niap (Nancy Saunders) are among the artists presented. Important works from the Museum’s Modern and Old Master collections by such artists as Charles Gagnon, Yves Gaucher, Rembrandt, Ribera and Rodin are also included.