RING MY BELL

Collaboration with:
Margriet Craens

 Ring my Bell (2024) is the third project in a series of autobiographical works by Margriet Craens and Lucas Maassen. The different phases in their personal love relationship form the inspiration for these projects, which are transformed into images and sculptures.

Ring my bell reflects on the phase of the enduring relationship of almost ten years, which includes having a joint home, a joint household and all the responsibilities that come with it. The idea for this project arose since Craens and Maassen registered for a construction project over five years ago. The building was finally completed in 2023. It is the first house that Craens and Maassen officially moved into together. Designing this home more than ever exposed assumptions that they both have about a household, and all the personal norms, values, preferences and habits that lay at the base of it. 

The work consists of a series of twelve bronze bells that are functional in relational communication. Each bell in the Ring my bell-carillon has its own sound and function, based on scenarios that occur in the communal household. There is a bell to announce that dinner is ready, one that asks to put the garbage out, and one that chimes for a moment of intimacy. The different functions of the bells reflect on the balance between running a household as well as maintaining it as a love nest, and the challenge it can be to keep all it in tune.