Temple of a Thousand Bells - York Festival of Ideas, University of York

Temple of a Thousand Bells image by Alex Wolkowicz

25 May to 4 November, 10am to 5pm

A thousand cast glass bells evoking a visual quality of water will be suspended in the nave of St Mary’s Church, York Art Gallery’s contemporary art space, in this new installation.

The Temple of a Thousand Bells, by Laura Belém, is inspired by an ancient legend about a temple on an island that sinks into the ocean. As the story unfolds it reveals the attempts of a sailor to hear the music of the thousand bells which were lost to the depths.

Originally commissioned for the Liverpool Biennial International 10 exhibition and housed in the Oratory, the work is being reinterpreted and rehung for York St Mary's.

The glass bells have all been individually hand-blown and will hang with nylon strings in the nave of the former church. They do not have a clapper, creating a visual metaphor that matches the narrated legend, which tells about the lost music of the bells in the depths of the ocean.

The mass of clear, translucent glass bells evoke a visual quality of water and notions of spirituality and evanescence. They also convey a sense of fragility, lyricism, dream, imagination, a sense of presence and absence, and memory and displacement.

Laura's intention is to show a work that can touch the viewer's 'inner score' – soul and heart – something we share in common universally and that transcends geographic and cultural boundaries.

Admission: Free, no ticket required.

Venue: York St Mary's Church, Castlegate, York