As the urgency of the pandemic recedes and the world numbs to the entrenched presence of COVID-19 in our lives, what remains is a collective sadness and the indelible imprints of a most unusual time: the commonness of face coverings, the isolation from loved ones, and the plangent tolls of church bells calling out in solemn remembrance of the dead.
A bell is a most expressive instrument. Dancing cascades of bells in a high bell tower can erupt into a merry peal to celebrate the day and lift the collective spirit. Or, quite the opposite, a single bell can toll with such plaintive resonance that it portends a painful melancholia and brooding gloom. We’ve had enough of the latter these last two years.
Announcing the departure of souls to the land beyond has been the burden of bells for centuries, and yet there is a distinct freshness to a major new work by Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry for this year’s Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.
A bell is cast to reflect and inspire.
Made during the pandemic to mark this unprecedented period, Grayson Perry's richly decorated Covid Bell (2022) is awash in the trappings of a multicultural cemetery.
Image: Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2022 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 21 June – 21 August 2022. Courtesy: Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry.
Elaborate tombs pop from the bell’s surface in high relief and wrap around its circumference, suggesting fields of burials stretching far beyond the horizon – hauntingly poignant for the times. It could easily be a bird’s-eye view of one of New Orleans’ beautiful Cities of the Dead. A doctor, a patient, and two corpses punctuate four points on the bell’s waist, while a budded cross forms high canons.
Image: Detail of the Covid Bell on view during the Summer Exhibition 2022 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 21 June – 21 August 2022. Courtesy: Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry.
The artist gave this insight into the nearly 880-lb. bell’s design: “I always start my artworks by looking at the traditions within that genre, whether it be ceramics, tapestry, printing, or bells, so I have been looking at bells from different cultures for inspiration.”
If a blend of cultures energized the design, a blend of technologies enabled the production. After being modeled in clay in the artist's studio, the Covid Bell was fabricated by the digital heritage preservation company Factum Foundation in Spain, cast in bronze by Pangolin Foundry in England, and tuned by master bell maker Nigel Taylor. It is hoped this novel approach will staunch the decline of English bell making, made apparent in the shuttering and redevelopment of the historic Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
The closing of Whitechapel prompted a years-long campaign to preserve bell making at the site. While the fate of Britain’s oldest single-purpose industrial building is in limbo, a newly-formed London Bell Foundry has been working to ensure the continuity of heritage bell making skills.
The Covid Bell is the first of the new foundry’s fine art projects. Four editions of the bell have been cast, with proceeds from the sale of three of the bells supporting the work of the London Bell Foundry. Smaller versions will be made available at the Victoria Miro gallery. Two more world-renowned artists, Paula Crown and Conrad Shawcross, have been commissioned to cast the next bells in the series.
Get closer to the art.
Grayson Perry's Covid Bell is on display during the Summer Exhibition 2022 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, through August 21, 2022. Founded in 1769, the Summer Exhibition has grown to become the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show. Guests visiting the show are invited to ring the Covid Bell in the exhibition hall.
Want to learn how new technology can help revitalize interest in bells, their production, and their digital and physical restoration? Explore the work of the Factum Foundation to reconnect with some of the world’s greatest cultural treasures.
Cover image: Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2022 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 21 June – 21 August 2022. Courtesy: Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry.
