Past exhibition
#Peacebell by Michael Patrick Kelly
03.11.2019 – 05.01.2020
In November 2018, the end of the First World War marks the 100th anniversary – reason enough to literally hang the issue of peace on the big bell. In both World Wars, over 150,000 bells were smelted to extract metal for weapons production. Bells, which were once meant to summon people, tore them apart.
Musician and peace activist Michael Patrick Kelly has reversed this process and presented his #PeaceBell as a symbol of change: “When we turn metals from used weapons into a bell, it’s only to turn both hate and hate-filled hearts into mutual respect. “It is a symbol of a departure from radicalism and polarizing tendencies in society and signs of lived peace.
The weapons he needed to remelt came from the region around Verdun, France, where one of the most brutal and loss-making battles of the First World War took place. The clapper of the bell is a discarded rifle. Michael Patrick Kelly, who spent six years in a monastery after a great success and his own life crisis, uses his #PeaceBell to promote social cohesion and the courageous advocacy of peace in the world.