Not A Tinkle Here
BBC News scrolling headline: "LONDON 2012: Bells are ringing around the country to mark the official start of the Olympic Games". I'm glad to say that where I live in Redbridge there hasn't even been a bicycle bell tinkling. All I can hear are car tyres swishing on a wet road, a sound typical in this area. Even the birds are refusing to twitter. So, not everyone has been silly enough to jump on Martin Creed's bandwagon of dinging their bells. He's being paid for it. Nobody else is. The title of his purported artwork is: All the Bells in a Country Rung as Quickly and as Loudly as Possible for Three Minutes (2012). Catchy title, Martin. How much did Arts Council England pay you for this "art"? The painting of Big Ben (the bell, not the clock tower) is by William T. Kimber, the head moulder responsible for casting the bell at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1858. CLICK for the Foundry's website to learn more about Big Ben.
posted by Unknown @ 27.7.12
4 comments
4 Comments:
Sorry but I can't agree with you on this one, Coxsoft. Usually, I agree with you about a lot of things commissioned for the Olympic Games, but this one seems like a great idea with the world celebrating something together rather than being at war with one another. The bells were rung as far away as Australia and Antarctica, (well, they didn't have any bells, just pots to bang), and it seems like a unification of Mankind. Let's hope that the rest of the Olympics goes off as well.
Hi, Andrea
It may be a fun idea, but it isn't a work of art and that's what Martin Creed was commissioned to create, on the strength of being a former Turner Prize winner!
With the overnight heat the windows were wide open first thing this morning. Not a sound from the nearby church or any other tintinnabulation. Not even a new-year type toot from the passing rush hour cars.
The description of the opening ceremony on the ten o'clock news conjured vivid images of the old BBC Jeux Sans Frontieres programmes. This time including Her Majesty rather than just minor royals.
Not sure if the town has any official Olympic sport venue. Some existing Council funding was diverted to the Olympic "sport for all" programme about four years ago.
The money was found by permanently closing the sculpture and pottery clay studio, its educational courses, and OAP/children's leisure sessions.
It was apparently spent on new carpets for the badminton spectators' gallery.
Redbridge Sports Centre is closed to members at present. Either it's being used as an official practice centre for Olympians or it is actually an Olympics venue. Could be that's why the carpet was renewed, although I'm surprised Redbridge had such foresight.
And Hainault Forest Country Park now has thousands of troops encamped above the lake as extra security for the Olympic Park. There's also some bike riding venue near there. A local wildlife group spent ages removing protected newts from the site and rehoming them elsewhere.
So Redbridge has got involved in the Olympics as much as it can, but seems to be short of bell ringers. Or Christian churches have more sense than to ring their bells for a sports event originally dedicated to the ancient Greek gods. Hail Zeus. Dong.
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