‘Story’ by Ellen Bell
Do you have a secret love? Somebody you have adored, or perhaps still do, and whose name you have never told? This is the question artist Ellen Bell asked people at Bristol Museum recently, encouraging them to drop a name anonymously into a box. Bell is the third of six artists invited to produce new work for an empty plinth near the entrance of Bristol Museum, running until February 2011.
‘Story’ gives a measure of permanence to our imaginary love affairs. Ellen Bell cuts up titles of old paperback novels, chooses the relevant names and intermingles them with other words from the titles, then covers an area exactly the same size as the plinth, placing the new one on top. A range of fictional narratives are suggested: ‘What if I’d followed my instincts? Would I be happier than I am now? Do we just need an imaginary love to be just that, something we don’t have to do anything about?’
Many will remember Anthony Gormley’s human sculpture last summer, asking for members of the public to occupy the ‘Fourth Plinth’ in Trafalgar Square for an hour: this is Bristol’s humbler but gently engaging version. Perhaps, if you look carefully, you’ll see your own name.
Jonathan Camp
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
10am to 5pm daily, free. Tel: 0117 922 3571.
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