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Art Piece: Temple of One Thousand Bells
Artist: Laura Belém
Date Created: August 2010
Medium: One thousand cast glass bells, Audio Track
Size: Area large enough to contain one thousand glass bells

     Temple of One Thousand Bells is a piece originally created by Laura Belém in 2010 for the 10th Liverpool Biennial.  The Liverpool Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that occurs in the United Kingdom every two years.  The legend that inspired this art piece comes from the book The Song of The Bird by Anthony De Mello.  The legend has been around a lot longer than De Mello's book and likely originated in India many of centuries ago.     The artist of this piece is from Brazil which could have also contributed to the culture of this art piece
                         The legend represented in this art piece revolves around an a temple built on an island which at one time contained a numerous amount of bells.  Over many years, the island and the bells became engulfed by the sea.  It is said that even though the bells are underwater, those who pass will still be able to hear their chimes if they stop and listen.  A sailor ventures out on a journey to hear the bells.  After many weeks of searching and listening for the bells he decides to give up on his quest.  On the last day, he laid on the beach and really listened to the ocean. At last, he began to hear the chime of the bells!
     The bells in the piece appear to be missing a clapper. Without a clapper, the bells are not able to make noise.  The audience is limited to only seeing the physical appearance of the bells.  Like the sailor in the beginning of the tale,  the audience members cannot hear the beautiful chimes of the bells. When observing this piece, the members of my group had fallen silent when the audio recording of the tale began to play.  As the tale played the hint of bell chimes rang throughout the recording.  It was as if the bells in the exhibit were chiming.  I looked up to observe the bells and imagined each one had a clapper capable of producing the chimes in the audio track.
     The style of this piece includes the hanging of one thousand glass bells.  The ceiling above the bells is very bare and white.  The bells hang from the ceiling at an assortment of lengths.  This technique creates a more relaxed appearance, as if they were just casually hung up in a tree.  The bells are constructed of clear glass.  The effect of the translucent glass and white ceiling background make the bells appear eerie and haunting atmosphere.  The bells are arranged in a manner that suggests that they represent the "ghosts" (can bells even be ghosts? Sure.) of the long ago bells in the legend.  The glass bells were all hand blown.  The audio track that is played during the observation of this piece also adds to the haunting atmosphere.  A man's voice tells the legend of the temple of the bells and the sailor who journeys to hear the bells chime.  The audio track makes it easy for audiences to imagine themselves making the journey as they stand under the bells of the exhibit.
     I believe the main purpose of this art piece is to make audience members step back and embrace the beauty of silence. A quote by Lawrence Durrell states, “Does not everything depend on our interpretation of the silence around us?” The sailor of the tale only heard the chimes of the bells when he was silent and really listened to ocean waves around him.  The audience members who visit the exhibit can only hear the chimes of the bells when they are silent and listen to the audio recording.          The art piece also is also designed to make audience members to reflect on their pasts.  Everything created in this piece is made up of events that happened in the past.  The island which contained the temple of bells existed above water in the past, the sailor who completed this journey lived in the past, and the bell chimes he heard came from bells present in the past.  All these factors can create a feeling of nostalgia within the audience and perhaps make them reflect on their own past.

My Sketch: