Jannis Kounellis
Bells (1993)
ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
There’s a disquiet about Jannis Kounellis’s Bells 1993 that evokes a sense of captivity. It makes me think of being silenced. Misplaced.
Despite being raised in an atheist environment by eccentric Italians, my early years were steeped in Catholicism. Even now, well into adulthood, I find within me remnants of beliefs and behaviours that I thought I had shed long ago. It is a curious contradiction that, at times, I arrogantly believe myself to be free of Catholic influence. Does religion also stubbornly persist for Kounellis, who rejected his strict Catholic upbringing, but whose art still bears traces of this past?
By living abroad for the better half of my life, I have distanced myself from this religious backdrop and embraced a life shaped by a multitude of cultures. Interestingly, the feeling of alienation feels less pronounced when I am away from what I used to consider ‘home’. Yet, the concept of home remains illusory, and finding a definition is an ongoing personal quest.
There are moments when I empathise with the bronze bells tethered between the wooden beams in Kounellis’s sculpture: stranded, out of place and unable to produce their intended sounds. But within this sense of displacement, I find solace in the realisation that perspective matters. Much like the artwork, which was initially made for a different context – a museum with views of the Cathedral of Saint Zeno in Pistoia, Italy – I, too, can redefine my narrative. Life, like art, gains new meanings when viewed from alternative angles.
Tracklist
1. Annelies Monseré – Your Finest Hour
2. Ancestral Voices – Syloh
3. NAR – كلاب ريد
4. Paul Frick – Church 5 Loop 2 (Lance Gamble’s Schleifstein Dub)
5. Piero Milesi – Between the Scale and the Apple
6. Voice Actor – Hurt with Me
7. Unknown – Worship of the Gods
8. Violetov General – Bells of Eternity
9. Markos Vamvakaris – Pireotikos Manes (Death Is Bitter)
10. Strafe für Rebellion – Santa Maria (excerpt)
11. Kinzua – Brain Massage (Happy End)
12. Clark Ashton Smith (Read by S.T. Joshi, sound by Theologian) – Inferno
13. Unearth Noise – Soul Surgery
14. Tutto Questo Sentire with Coby Sey, Elena Colombi, Charlie Hope – Ending
15. Pekka Pohjola – Hope
16. Thanasis Zlatanos – The Crystal Sight (Excerpt II)
17. Magisch Theater Productions – Chilliness Of These Sounds Is My Cell (excerpts)
Bells is included in Artist Rooms: Jannis Kounellis at Tate Modern. It was acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund in 2008.
Elena Colombi is a DJ, producer and radio host based in Hastings. They founded the label and event series Osàre! Editions in 2019.
This mixtape is no.17 in the MixTate series.