wheel-ear, snail-ear
Oxford, February 2024
We walked together down Bullingdon Road, pushing two wheels. 160 year-old wooden bodies used for ringing bells. We listened through a single ear: a contact microphone spinning with the wheel, a snail shell pressed agains its rim.
Two bell wheels (oak, ash and elm timber) were stored at the back of the Ruskin School of Art’s workshop, after 160 years of spinning in the darkness of their tower.
They were brought here by Brian Catling (1949-2022), artist and professor at the school, whose plan for the objects remains unknown.
We walked them outside. Left the school and moved down Bullingdon Road.
Wheels rolling on wet tarmac in the shelter of our steps. Snail shells circle the rim,
nestled in the sunken channel where the rope used to slide. A fragile armor of spiraling ears.
Back in the workshop
metal moved nosily over our heads.