For the Triennial, Ash Kilmartin presents a fragmentary essay connecting klokkenstoelen (typical Frisian belfry structures), one of the subjects of her 2019 residency research, to collective memorial practices and the value of the public monument; comparing the original purposes and experiences of a bell—the sonic centre of a community—to our present, de-centred rituals of remembrance.

To accompany the printed essay, she also presents an episode of her regular Radio WORM programme Ever Widening Circles, dedicated to the music, source texts, and anecdotes from Syb that informed the essay.

Ash Kilmartin (1986) was born in New Zealand, and received her BA in Fine Arts at the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2009. From 2015 to 2017 she studied at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, where she received her MFA. Her work consists of installations and performances, and collaborative soundworks, radio-shows and publications. Ash Kilmartin lives and works in Rotterdam.