Christian Marclay | The Bell and the Glass

Christian Marclay

The Bell and the Glass

Philadelphia, USA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2004

96 pp., 7" x 9", softcover, exposed binding

Edition size unknown

Edited by Susan Rosenberg, this artists' book was published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that opened in May of 2003. Both the bookwork and multimedia installation explore shared affinities between two of Philadelphia's most famous cracked icons, The Liberty Bell and Marcel Duchamp's The Large Glass.

The book pairs multiple images of both the Bell and Glass, along with musical scores about the bell, such as "You're A Grand Old Bell", "Liberty Bell Ring On", and "The Liberty Bell March" by John Philip Sousa (perhaps now best known as the theme song for Monty Python's Flying Circus).

"In collaboration with Relâche, Inc. and Relâche Ensemble, the museum presents The Bell and the Glass by acclaimed composer and visual artist Christian Marclay (born 1955). This multimedia installation and its accompanying musical composition are inspired by the artist’s interest in two Philadelphia icons: the Liberty Bell and The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) by Marcel Duchamp, which is installed in gallery 182 of the Modern and Contemporary Art galleries.

The artist brings together this unlikely couple through four integrated components: a live music/sound performance by Relâche Ensemble, a photo-essay, a video composition, and an installation of objects selected by the artist from his collection, as well as from the holdings of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Independence National Historical Park, the Atwater Kent Museum, and other institutions.

Marclay’s longstanding interest in objects that were created to make sound but rendered silent and dysfunctional led him to juxtapose the Bell and the Glass. In their iconic cracks, the artist discovers a coincidental, shared celebrity—and a potential for music. A new musical score by Marclay draws on the musical legacy of the Bell and the Glass—including tunes written in celebration of the Bell, and a score by Marcel Duchamp, written while he was working on the Large Glass, also on exhibit. Marclay’s double-screen video projection incorporates footage of Marcel Duchamp, clips from Hollywood movies, and shots of the Liberty Bell and of the Duchamp galleries at the museum. The video is a score and teleprompter for musicians of the Relâche Ensemble."

- Philadelphia Museum of Art, exhibition press release