Veneration Bell
Sited in the Lady Chapel at St Ann’s Church at the heart of the city centre is Manchester’s first digital altarpiece. Created by Welsh artist Adam Buick, Veneration Bell is a 16 mins video projection of hand thrown ceramic church bells suspended in sea caves around the coast of Pembrokeshire chiming at different states of tide as the sea crashes against the cave walls. Bells are a universal symbol of the sacred and Buick’s placing of them acts as a homage to nature, drawing attention to the beauty of the surrounding landscape.
A practice of the medieval church still played to this day in some places is the Angelus, the daily ringing of a church bell at 6am, midday and 6pm calling participants to stillness and meditation. The ringing consists of three strokes of the bell each followed by a pause and then nine consecutive strokes creating opportunity to pause briefly and be still for a few moments each day, to pray, reflect, or just breathe deeply amidst a day of constant activity and noise.
Adam Buick was born in Newport, Wales in 1978, he studied Archaeology and Anthropology before embarking on a career as an artist. He was selected for the Crafts Council of Ireland Pottery Skills Course which then led to him setting up his own studio in 2006. Buick now has a national reputation and is a professional member of the Craft Potters Association. His love of the Welsh landscape has led him to experiment with the use of time lapse photography and performance art through the placing of unfired ceramic objects within the landscape to record the transience of the clay when exposed to the natural elements.
Click here to read the meditation and praxis for this artwork.
Images courtesy of the artist.