Gaby Hartel: Bells - a means of orientation in time, space, social sphere and self

After a long cultural evolution, bells had become a well-established sonic presence in European towns and villages by the middle ages. Besides being an integral part of local acoustic landscapes, church bells also performed the role of psycho aesthetic instruments. On an emotional level they bound together feelings of psychological and spacial orientation, of collective identity and of geographic and religious belonging while at the same time structuring peoples’ everyday lives and shaping the spiritual/religious cycle of the year. The bell as an acoustic statement or pars pro toto started to enrich poetic language with its specific aroma and sensual immediacy. Writers alluded to the chimes of bells rippling the air like circles charged with energy when they wanted to conjure up feelings of belonging and of space, or the atmospheric colouring of a particular moment in time.

Despite the fact that bells were a cultural universality, the use of the language of these sonic objects did vary from country to country. While contemporary continental European sources at the turn of the 16th century mainly mention the psycho-aesthetic effects of bells, such as their chimes shedding an atmosphere of security, watchfulness, alarm or peace of mind, foreign travellers to London noted that the biggest city of the time sported a very particular, secular use of their bells.

Quite in tune with the widespread reputation of the “eccentric Englishman”, bell-ringing competitions were in full swing in London during the late years of the reign of Queen Elisabeth the First. Youngsters had liberal access to the steeples of their local church and rang the bell (or bells) whenever they felt like it and for however long they wanted. The fellow who was able to do this longest and loudest won the contest. The old Queen enjoyed this activity, seeing it as a physical exercise and, in this, a sign of good health.

This is a special example of how bells were used to make a rigorous public statement of sheer delight in vitality and individuality.

Another way of displaying this kind of individuality lies in A K Dolven’s presentation of an “out-of-tune” (or rather “not-in-tune”) - bell in Oslo’s Tullinløkka, thus giving it space and scope to resound its singleness and uniqueness.

The Bell, a D sharp, 1.4 ton, was removed from the chimes in Oslo Town Hall before the last turn of the century as it was out of tune with the remaining 48 bells. Since then, the Untuned Bell sat mute on the ground in a bell foundry outside the capital as potential scrap metal. On Tullinløkka it is hanging on a wire between two 20 m high pillars to mark its return to the soundscape of Oslo. By pressing a pedal provided, the bell will make itself heard again within the city, this time as a sonic solitaire.

In this way the Untuned Bell will be experienced visually, as an object but also and most importantly, as a spacio-acoustical event. Its sounds will be operated by the visitors themselves, thus giving them the opportunity of “putting their foot down” and thereby archiving a positive result, namely, that of having a sonorous tune reverberate through the city space, immersing themselves and parts of the ajacent city in rings of sounds of varying intensity.

Consequently, the visitors are not regarded as a passive audience, but as active participants in the event. In the course of this experience the pedal operator and her or his fellow visitors are invited to draw on their own acoustic sensitivity and spacial imagination.

In this regard, the hitherto unwanted, “not-in-tune”, sonic capacity of the Untuned Bell is not a background noise to a visual experience, but rather a dynamic auditory input in itself, weaving together individual memories, shared sonic reminiscence and a feeling for the importance of public space. I like to think that there lies a discreet political symbolism in A K Dolven’s gesture of offering the viewer an active part in this celebration of a non-streamlined soundcluster which, before it’s appearance in the public open space of Tullinløkka, has been considered not fit for the job; and in focussing on the immense affective variety of the subtle, immaterial world of these sounds. The project favours and encourages personal activity (the pressing of the foot-pedal) in order to create a strong and positive collective experience. Ideally, the background-knowledge about the history of this particular bell will mingle with the visitor’s hightened sensitivity towards the sonic experience as well as to her or his surroundings, thus merging the individual and personal with the interpersonal.

A K Dolven’s “Untuned Bell” sets out as a multisensual investigation into the social, the aesthetic, the emotional and cultural-historical effects and connotations of bells and bell-ringing in public open spaces while at the same time celebrating the energy and atmospheric potential of the imperfect, the un-tuned.

By Gaby Hartel