The Bell Project
Composer Brenda Hutchinson Drives a Big Cast-Iron Bell Across America
Ringing It All the Way to the Exploratorium
Departs September 10 and Arrives in San Francisco for Public Play on October 6 at 11am
Beginning September 10, New York/San Francisco artist-composer Brenda Hutchinson will haul a large, resonant, cast-iron bell on a trailer attached to the back of her car from coast to coast. The Bell Project, a cross-country performance journey, is a month-long series of bell ringing events in towns and cities across the United States, culminating with bell ringing and lecture-demonstrations at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The project is in anticipation of the opening of a major new exhibit collection, Listen, on October 21. Starting on the east coast, Hutchinson will travel some 5000 miles following a predominantly Southern route ending at San Francisco's Exploratorium on October 6, at 11am. Visitors to the Exploratorium will be invited to ring the bell on the hour that day until it is hoisted up high to its new home in the museum, where it will ring the opening and closing of the Exploratorium ever after. Hutchinson will also make weekend (October 7th and 8th) public presentations about The Bell Project at 2pm in the museum's McBean Theater.
As Hutchinson drives, the bell will ring freely, and she will stop at least once a day along the way to ring the bell and see who comes and what happens. She will tow the bell into small towns, city parks, shopping malls, parking lots, rest areas, etc., and start ringing it. Those who come will be invited to ring the bell and to talk about why they came. Documentation of the journey and interactions will be disseminated daily, linked to the Exploratorium's website (www.exploratorium.edu).
Background
We all respond to the call of the bell – factory workers, school kids, ice cream cravers, farm hands. For over twenty-five years, the Exploratorium has always used a cast-iron bell, rung by high-school-age Explainers, as the signal that the museum is opening and closing. The original bell, which came from a one-room schoolhouse in New Mexico and then found its way to Exploratorium founder Frank Oppenheimer's ranch in Pagosa Springs, Colorado in the 1960's, is no longer workable. Sirens and other methods were tried, but all agreed that the Exploratorium needed a new bell. At the end of her journey, the artist plans to donate the bell to the Exploratorium, so its beautiful tones will become a permanent part of the museum soundscape, used to ring in openings, closings and special occasions. The Bell Project is sponsored by the Exploratorium.
As Hutchinson puts it, "Along the way, when people hear the bell, I hope they will come and investigate. When they come, I will be waiting there with the bell. I will not perform or do anything other than ring the bell and invite them to do the same. I will be turning the 'what's this about?' back to them. It's all about who comes, what they bring in terms of expectations and ideas, the stories they may tell, and the sounds they make if they ring the bell."
The route will be posted online, along with audio, stills, video clips and written daily journal entries. Site visitors may follow the route, listen to stories, and look at images of the daily events. They will be invited to contact Brenda Hutchinson and request stops, suggest points of interest and make comments. Everyone who hears the bell and comes to investigate will receive stamped postcards, and will be encouraged to use them to share their experience with others.
Ten years ago, Hutchinson drove her piano cross-country in a truck and asked people to play it and to tell piano stories. The original commission was to create a performable piano piece. In that work, the process of recording the performances and stories, which she used to create a documentary of the trip as well as a score for live performances, produced a unique series of daily performance events. She stopped, spoke to, and performed with more than 2000 people.
The final destination of the bell is the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California, the well-known museum of science, art, and human perception. The arrival of the bell precedes the opening of a major new exhibit collection, Listen: Making Sense of Sound, which includes forty new interactive exhibits. On October 21, the opening day, the bell will be part of festivities celebrating a three-year investigation of sound and listening.
The connections made and stories generated and shared along the cross-country performance journey will become part of the bell's unique history and special place in the museum
Cost: $13.00