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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Change ringing</span> Art of ringing a set of bells in mathematical patterns

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. It can also be automated by machinery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campanology</span> Scientific and musical study of bells

Campanology is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are founded, tuned and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Sigismund Bell</span> Large bell located in Wawel Cathedral, Kraków. Major Polish national symbol.

The Sigismund Bell is the largest of the five bells hanging in the Sigismund Tower of the Wawel Cathedral in the Polish city of Kraków. It was cast in 1520 by Hans Behem and named after King Sigismund I of Poland, who commissioned it. The bell weighs almost 13 tonnes and requires 12 bell-ringers to swing it. It tolls on special occasions, mostly religious and national holidays, and is regarded as one of Poland's national symbols.

A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged clapper strike the inside of the bell. An individual handbell can be used simply as a signal to catch people's attention or summon them together, but handbells are also often heard in tuned sets.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nottingham University Society of Change Ringers</span> Bellringers society

The Nottingham University Society of Change Ringers (NUSCR) is one of the oldest societies affiliated to the University of Nottingham Students' Union, being founded in 1958. Its principal aim is to allow students from both the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University to practise English Change Ringing. It also represents the University at the annual Northern Universities Association (NUA) Striking Competition each November.

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, it 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peal</span> Type of precisely timed bell-ringing arrangement

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint George's Memorial Church, Ypres</span>

Saint George's Memorial Church, Ypres (Ieper), Belgium, was built to commemorate over 500,000 British and Commonwealth troops, who had died in the three battles fought for the Ypres Salient, during World War I. It was completed in 1929.

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers</span> Bellringers society

The Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers is a society representing the rings and bell-ringers of the Diocese of Oxford who practice the art of change ringing. They cover the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire and was established on 17 January 1881 at Reading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Bristol Society of Change Ringers</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cretingham</span> Human settlement in England

Cretingham is a village and a civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk. It is on the River Deben, 2 miles south off the A1120 road. It is four miles west from Framlingham and eight miles northwest from Woodbridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Full circle ringing</span> Method of hanging (church) bells and ringing them in the "English tradition"

Full circle ringing is a technique of ringing a tower bell such that it swings in a complete circle from mouth upwards to mouth upwards and then back again repetitively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Westham</span> Church in East Sussex , United Kingdom

St Mary's Church, Westham, is an active Anglican parish church in High Street, Westham, East Sussex, England, standing to the west of Pevensey Castle. The earliest fabric in the church, in the south wall of the nave and in the transept, dates from the late 11th century. The north aisle and the tower were added to the church in the late 14th century. The chancel was either rebuilt or remodelled in about 1420. During the 1870s restorations were carried out, including one by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin in 1876–77, when the seating was increased from 297 to 403. The church is constructed in flint with stone dressings and a tiled roof. Its plan consists of a nave with a north aisle and a north porch, a south transept, a chancel with a north chapel, and a west tower.

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

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.

Margery Fletcher Sampson was Scotland’s first female bell-ringer. She was also a teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suffolk Guild of Ringers</span> Bellringers society

The Suffolk Guild of Ringers for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a society and charity supporting 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 on 2 April 1923 at Ipswich and covers over 200 rings of bells in the county of Suffolk in the area that falls within the diocese boundary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inveraray Bell Tower</span> Church in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

The Duke's Tower, also known as Inveraray Bell Tower, is the detached bell tower of All Saints' Church, Inveraray, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Standing 126 feet (38 m) high on the shores of Loch Fyne, it is a landmark for miles and amongst the most notable bell towers in the United Kingdom. The tower was built as a memorial to members of the Clan Campbell who died in the First World War. It is Category A listed by Historic Environment Scotland, the highest possible rating.

References

  1. Velez, Pedro. "Young Noise". artnet Magazine. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  2. "Artnet News". artnet Magazine. Oct 19, 2006. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  3. "Bell Ringers of Britain!". Allthebells.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-06. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  4. "London 2012: Bell-ringers pull out of 2012 celebration". BBC News. 2011-11-09. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  5. "The CCCBR President's Blog". cccbr.org.uk. 2011-10-19. Archived from the original on 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2012-12-04.