Recording Heaven

Oude Kerk Exhibition (live), Amsterdam & Gerrit Rietveld Academie Exhibition, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2009. Collaboration with Roos Blogg. Eight classic peace peace pop anthems replayed on the carillon bells of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. Pressed as a Vinyl record with silkscreened cover, as part of the ‘Harmony’ series of works. Duration: 30 mins.

For this project eight classic peace pop anthems were transposed by replaying them on the bells of the Old Church in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. The bell player Boudewijn Zwart was commissioned to play the carillon.
The mission statement was: ‘In the current climate of continued exploitation of vulnerable peoples and nations and abuses of power in the world, and the violence, poverty and despair caused by war and imbalances, what better to do than to focus on the notion of peace.
The transposing of classic peace anthems taken from pop culture, which are songs of the People, by replaying them on this ultimate instrument of ‘God’ allows our demand for peace to resonate in the church and wider-city context.’
This collaborative work was performed live on the opening night of the Oude Kerk Exhibition on the 18th of January 2009. It was also included within the ‘Tree Temple’ installation on vinyl LP. The result is a beautiful collection of tracks with silkscreened covers.

The track listing is as follows:
side a)
AQUARIUS by Fifth Dimension
WIND OF CHANGE by The Scorpions
DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS by Band Aid
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE by The Beatles
side b)
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD by Louis Armstrong
IMAGINE by John Lennon
PEACE TRAIN by Cat Stevens
KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR by Bob Dylan