“The exhibition has unavoidable references to the violent history of book burning but remains ambiguous and doesn’t provide any easy answers for what it represents. The experience of the work is beautiful and compelling – yet dangerous and threatening at the same time, expressing the duality of human behaviour with deeds both good and dark.”

In the Main Gallery, Modern Fuel presents Voir Dire, a dark and mysterious installation by the Calgary-based artist Tammy McGrath. “Voir Dire” is an old French phrase that loosely translates as “to speak the truth.” It is employed as a law term which connotes the process by which lawyers question prospective jury members to determine if they are unbiased and suitable to be part of a fair and impartial jury.

For this installation, McGrath took on the role of a passive destroyer and burned over one thousand four hundred books. The exhibition has unavoidable references to the violent history of book burning but remains ambiguous and doesn’t provide any easy answers for what it represents. The experience of the work is beautiful and compelling – yet dangerous and threatening at the same time, expressing the duality of human behaviour with deeds both good and dark.