Time and Tide Bell
by Marcus Vergette
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"This is an inspired project. The link between ourselves and the
elements are in danger of being lost in our 21st century life. The
importance of that link, given climate change, is more important than
it ever has been and such a beautiful reminder of the importance of
tides and sea levels is truly inspirational."
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer, House of Lords |
Click to enlarge images
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Time and Tide Bell Project
A permanent installation of 12 bells around Britain. It expresses an idea of ideas of community and individuality, with resonance both symbolical and acoustic.I have invented with Dr Neil Mclachlan (MIT Australia) a new bell form, which uniquely from one strike sounds different notes one after another as a melody. This form has never existed before and has only been possible as a result of very recent developments in computer modeling. This May, the first of the Time and Tide bells will be installed at the high tide mark on the sea wall in Appledore, Devon, U.K.
As an island the sea both separates and connects us. I am now seeking to to make a permanent installation of the Time and Tide Bell at the high tide mark at a number of diverse sites around the country, from urban centres to open stretches of coastline. The rise of the water at high tide will move the clapper to strike the bell. Played by the movement of the waves, the bell creates a constantly varying musical pattern. As the effect of global warming increases the periods of bell strikes will become more and more frequent, and as the bell becomes submerged in the rising water the pitch will vary. What is now in tune will become out of tune.
The integrity of the Time and Tide project nationally is in the choice of the sites and how they connect. The idea of the Time and Tide Bell is to create, celebrate, and reinforce connections, between different parts of the country, between the land and the sea, between ourselves and our environment. One of this bells many potential meaning is as a time-piece or time-marker. Both in the way the bell is rung by the movement of the sea at high tide daily, but also as a long time marker of sea levels and where the shoreline is now. Each of the sites bring something particular and unique to the whole group. The other sites presently under development are Seatown on the Jurassic Coast, Island Gardens, London on the Meridian Line, below Southwold on the Suffolk coast (where the sea wall is being broken), and on The Isle of Lewis, along with the Appledore bell installed this May.
At each site I would encourage the host community to have a creative engagement with the bell, and through the bell to their own environment, The community will be invited to create an inscription to imprint their identity onto the bell, physically and symbolically. Developing the text of this inscription would develop out of the process of consultation, to include talks, workshops, and public meetings. It could also involve working in tandem with another project with overlapping relevance. Additionally to the inscription there would be a process of consultation and discussions on the frequency of the ring , volume levels, and quality of the sound, so the bell says what those who experience it want it to say. Although the basic physical structure of the bell stays the same in each site, each bell will also be unique to it’s own site.
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Click link below to read Bell Research Document (requires adobe reader) |
Time and Tide Medal
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Listen to a sound file of the Time and Tide Bell
See a Video of the Time and Tide Bell ringing for the first time in Appledore (on youtube).