How can it still be possible to feel connected in a time in which we are living our lives alongside each other, without being involved in real social interactions?
Watching Andrei Tarkowski’s movie Andrey Rubljow, the artist duo Baltensperger + Siepert drew inspiration from the closing scene of the film. Set in Russia during the Middle Age, in this sequence a city gets rebuilt after times of war and disorder. Hence a new town bell needs to be casted also. This almost impossible act of casting a bell, in which all inhabitants of the city are involved, eventually succeeds, marking a turning point for the city and symbolising a new beginning.
For the art exhibition in public space Neuer Norden (2018), organised by the City of Zurich and curated by Christoph Doswald, Baltensperger + Siepert were asked to do an artwork in the cooperative and commercial housing “mehr als wohnen”, where processes of participation play a key role.
The artist duo proposed to reenact the final sequence from Tarkowski’s epic film and to cast a large bell on site. The aim was to create a moment in which a sense of community and belonging are manifested through a common effort.
To do so, the artists Stefan Baltensperger and David Siepert invited the residents to collect scrap aluminium and thus to participate in the production of the artwork by handing in personal items.
Several workshops and encounters with the inhabitants accompanied the project also.
Once the donated material has been collected throughout several weeks in the container placed on site, the bell was subsequently cast directly in the ground, where it will also remain.
Ensuing this act, only the uppermost part is to emerge out of the earth, symbolising a collective effort towards a shared new beginning. A myth for how the bell was created.
Neuer Norden Zürich (9 June - 2 September 2018), organised by Arbeitsgruppe Kiör (Art and Public Space of the City of Zurich) and curated by Cristoph Doswald.
The project was made possible thanks to the support of Igora (Aluminium Recycling Switzerland) and the close collaboration with Kunstgiesserei St. Gallen.
Silvia Converso accompanied and documented the project from its incubation throughout the various production stages until completion. She also co-organised the events with the residents.
