Modern and Contemporary Gallery 177, First Floor
Main Building
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.
The project is the seventh in a series of Museum Studies installations by living artists created specifically for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and it is the fifth in the 2002/03 Future Sounds series by Relâche Ensemble.