In the National Gallery of Canada at Ottawa is the reconstructed 'Rideau Chapel', which was rescued from a former Sisters of Charity Convent that was put up for sale in December 1970.
We visited this gallery and were delighted to find the sound installation, 'Forty-Part Motet' by Janet Cardiff that we heard 4 years ago had been re-installed in May this year. It is a wonderfully enveloping aural experience where 40 speakers arranged around the perimeter of the Chapel play a recording of Thomas Tallis' Spem in Alium (Hope in any other). This is a motet for 5 choirs of 8 voices. In this instance each singer was recorded with a separate microphone and is played back through a dedicated speaker. Thus one can experience the music 'from the inside'.
Around Ottawa we visited the historic township of Almonte and were surprised by the amount of rushing water powering a small hydro electric station on the other Mississippi River.
We were intrigued to see this turf roofed storage house at the farm gate market near Leonora and Richard's house.
Across the river from Ottawa, in Quebec province, is Jacques Cartier Park where we saw an extraordinary display called MosaiCulture. The display consisted of huge sculptural works made on steel and wire armatures that were then covered with living plants that gave colour and texture to the surfaces. The entire surface, walls and roof of this 'railway station' exhibit was covered with living plants rooted in a blanket-like substrata.
Here is an enormous tree with endangered species of birds from around the world...
...and two snowy owls.
In this close-up you can see the individual branchlets.
The fur of the dog in this image is entirely of long brown grasses.
Here two moose are part of a huge display...
...of the mother earth figure, Gaia. The people give some sense of scale.
I particularly liked this foal and mare made by a British sculptor.
They are made from carefully selected pieces of 'driftwood' which are in their natural found state and apparently not carved to fit together.
Fabulous photos.
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