To Intercession

To Intercession was made as part of a larger project of artistic research undertaken by David Prior and Frances Crow, which address the changing role of bells in contemporary culture. This work extends the theme with a particular focus on the dual role bells have played in defining territory and interceding between humans and God.

Just as prayers are often inscribed into the metal of bells, casting them to heaven when played, so too were bells understood by the early church to represent the voice of God. In To Intercession the voices of the women interviewed by Binaural/ Nodar are transmuted into bell tones, which are then played through four tiny speakers mounted on brass rods – tiny transducers, mediating one kind of energy into another.

To Intercession takes its physical form from the networks of megaphones found in the Parish of Sul, where the project began, that play recordings of bells to mark the passing of time and to amplify the voice of the priest during Mass. The piece represents these megaphones in miniature and in so doing; the listener becomes engaged in the intimate lives of the women who make up Sul’s church congregation.

To Intercession was commissioned by Binaural/Nodar for the Viseu Rural 2.0 Collective Exhibition at Casa das Memórias (Viseu, Portugal) from 28 November 2015 – 17 April 2016. The exhibition was part of the Visue Rural 2.0 project Documenting and [Re]expressing Rural Heritage and as invited artists we were asked to respond to the archive of recordings and videos that have been collected as part of the Viseu Rural 2.0 project.