All the Bells

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All The Bells is a 2006 and 2012 artwork by Martin Creed.

Contents

Original work

The work was originally given in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in October 2006, where it attracted little favourable attention. [1] Its rubric was: All of the bells in a city or town rung as quickly and loudly as possible for three minutes (or in Spanish, Todas las campanas en una ciudad o pueblo sonando tan rápido y duro como sea posible por tres minutos). The work was a collaboration between the Candela Art & Music Festival, Escuela de Artes Plásticas, Galeríía Comercial, Gavin Brown's Enterprise, Mima and César Reyes and SunCom. [2]

London 2012

The piece, under the title Work No. 1197: All The Bells, with the revised rubric, All the bells in a country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes, was subsequently re-commissioned, for a sum rumoured to be between thirty-five and fifty thousand pounds, and advertised as being a new work, by the London 2012 Festival. [3] The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers declined to participate. [4] The Council's President, Kate Flavell, criticised both the timing and content of the piece in her official blog. [5]

Related Research Articles

Change ringing

Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in which the ringers commit to memory the rules for generating each change, or by call changes, where the ringers are instructed how to generate each change by instructions from a conductor. This creates a form of bell music which cannot be discerned as a conventional melody, but is a series of mathematical sequences.

Martin Creed is a British artist, composer and performer. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for exhibitions during the preceding year, with the jury praising his audacity for exhibiting a single installation, Work No. 227: The lights going on and off, in the Turner Prize show. Creed lives and works in London.

Church bell

A church bell in the Christian tradition is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of ceremonial purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and to announce the fixed times of daily Christian prayer, called the canonical hours, which number seven and are contained in breviaries. They are also rung on special occasions such as a wedding, or a funeral service. In some religious traditions they are used within the liturgy of the church service to signify to people that a particular part of the service has been reached. The ringing of church bells, in the Christian tradition, is also believed to drive out demons.

As Slow as Possible Musical composition by John Cage

Organ2/ASLSP is a musical piece by John Cage and the subject of one of the longest-lasting musical performances yet undertaken. It was originally written in 1987 for organ and is adapted from the earlier work ASLSP 1985; a typical performance of the piano version lasts 20 to 70 minutes. In 1985, Cage opted to omit the detail of exactly how slowly the piece should be played.

Method ringing is a form of change ringing in which the ringers commit to memory the rules for generating each change of sequence, and pairs of bells are affected. This creates a form of bell music which is continually changing, but which cannot be discerned as a conventional melody. It is a way of sounding continually changing mathematical permutations.

The Ancient Society of College Youths (ASCY) is a change ringing society, founded in 1637 and based in the City of London. The society played a leading role in the early development of change ringing, and today provides ringers for important events at St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Although it is a non-territorial association, its importance is recognised through having four representatives on the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers.

<i>Clapping Music</i> Composition by Steve Reich

Clapping Music is a minimalist piece written by Steve Reich in 1972. It is written for two performers and is performed entirely by clapping.

Peal

In campanology, a peal is the special name given to a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality.

Call change ringing is a branch of the art of change ringing, in which a group of English-style full-circle bell ringers are instructed continually to create different sequences, or changes, of the bells' striking order. Each command from the leader or "conductor" of the ringing results in a new sequence of sounding the bells. Each sequence is repeated until the next command or "call".

University of Bristol Society of Change Ringers

The University of Bristol Society of Change Ringers (UBSCR) is a change ringing society. UBSCR is associated with the University of Bristol and is affiliated to Bristol SU. UBSCR was established in 1943 and has rung bells at St Michael on the Mount Without since 1944. Since 1950 there have been over 700 peals rung for the society. UBSCR is also affiliated to the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers and sends two representatives to its AGM.

Hartlepool Art Gallery

Hartlepool Art Gallery is an art gallery in Hartlepool, County Durham, England.

The year 2012 in art involves some significant events.

Sonny Sanjay Vadgama is a British artist and filmmaker who has been exhibiting globally since 2009. He specialises in video sculpture and holograms and print work. He previously worked in research and production for BBC Choice/BBC 3.

The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) is an organisation founded in 1891 which represents ringers of church bells in the English style.

The Guild of St Magnus is a bell ringing guild formed in 2009, following the new installation of the bells at St Magnus-the-Martyr, with the main aim of ringing for Sunday services at St Magnus the Martyr. Guild members are often also members of other guilds and societies in London and support other bands of ringers including: Southwark Cathedral; St Martin-in-the-Fields; St Michael, Cornhill and St Olave Hart Street.

Olympic Bell

The Olympic Bell was commissioned and cast for the 2012 London Olympic Games, and is the largest harmonically-tuned bell in the world. Cast in bronze bell metal, it is 2 metres high with a diameter of 3.34 metres, and weighs 22 long tons 18 cwt 3 qr 13 lb. The bell is now displayed in the Olympic Park.

<i>The Scotsman Steps</i>

The Scotsman Steps is a permanent installation by British artist Martin Creed in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Albert John Pitman is regarded by change ringing campanologists as a remarkable and versatile composer of peals in bell ringing methods. Described as 'perhaps the greatest of all time' in the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers biography of him, An Unassuming Genius, he was an extraordinary talent in the field of peal composition.

Suffolk Guild of Ringers

The Suffolk Guild of Ringers for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a society representing the bell ringers and rings of bells in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich who practice the art of change ringing. The Guild was established in 1923 at Ipswich and covers over 200 rings of bells in the county of Suffolk in the area that falls within the diocese boundary.

<i>Work No. 227: The lights going on and off</i> Art installation by Martin Creed

Work No. 227: The lights going on and off is an installation by British artist Martin Creed. As of 2013, it forms part of the permanent collection at Tate Britain. The installation is widely considered to be one of Creed's signature art works and has also been described as Creed's "most notorious work".

References

  1. "Young Noise – artnet Magazine". Artnet.com. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  2. "Artnet News – artnet Magazine". Artnet.com. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  3. "Intro – Martin Creed". Allthebells.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-06. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  4. "BBC News". bbc.co.uk. 2011-11-09. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  5. [ dead link ] "The CCCBR President's Blog". cccbr.org.uk. 2011-10-19. Archived from the original on 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2012-12-04.