A table Bell

This is a standard modern reception bell; I used a similar object for a performance in Tehran back in 2002 at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts. In protest of the selection and the way the exhibition, NEW ART was curated. I used the bell to offer the visitors, guards, and participants of the show to RING THE BELL while I was holding it in my hand. The performance was planned for the opening day and closing day. On the opening day, I had a successful act that lasted almost 3 hours touring the exhibition while ringing the bell in fixed intervals and offering the bell to the audience to try it themselves. On the last day of the show, I was walking in the exhibition halls at the museum, I wasn’t ringing the bell anymore and I was listening to a pre-recorded sound of the bell on a CD-man with headphones. When finally, the guards noticed me in the spiral ramp of the museum, they escorted me outside and kept me in the security room until one of the staff came to say I was not allowed with my ring in the museum. After a few moments of conversation, I gave the bell carefully to the security staff and went back inside. When I was back to pick the bell up. Started to ring it again while heading to the exit door. I left the museum grounds and didn’t come back for a year. From time to time, I carried the bell with me in galleries and cultural events and kept offering it to people to try ringing it. The object itself is in Iran at the moment and I kept it there. And this is a replacement piece I order online.