All the Bells explained

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

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]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Young Noise . Pedro . Velez . artnet Magazine . 2012-08-24.
  2. Web site: Artnet News . artnet Magazine . Oct 19, 2006 . 2012-08-24.
  3. Web site: Bell Ringers of Britain! . https://web.archive.org/web/20111106203553/http://www.allthebells.com/ . dead . 2011-11-06 . Allthebells.com . 2012-08-24 .
  4. Web site: London 2012: Bell-ringers pull out of 2012 celebration . BBC News . 2011-11-09. 2012-12-04.
  5. Web site: The CCCBR President's Blog . cccbr.org.uk . 2011-10-19 . 2012-12-04 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150602114949/http://cccbr.org.uk/blog/2011-10-19/ . 2015-06-02 .