On the opening day of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed will create Work No. 1197: All the bells in a country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes throughout the country as the UK welcomes 205 nations from around the world.
Everyone in the UK is being encouraged to ring different kinds of bells – alarm clock bells, bicycle bells, boat bells, mobile phone bells, church bells, cowbells, handbells, school bells, and town hall bells – to usher in the Games.Morris dancers, churches and Town Criers have already signed up to take part in what is potentially the UK’s largest ever cultural mass participation event.
People across the country are now being invited to register an event to be part of the project on the All the Bells... website. Within the next few weeks visitors to the website will be able to add any kind of bell ringing event to an interactive map and to download an exclusive Martin Creed ringtone.