The Pictoral Bible III & The Aural Bible II: The Bible in Translation by John Harvey

Extracted text from The_Pictorial_Bible_III_and_The_Aural_Bi.pdf:

THE PICTORIAL BIBLE III & THE AURAL BIBLE II
The Bible in Translation John Harvey TTo the memory of
Stephen Chilton (19752014) and Martin Herbert (19572014)

John Harvey, 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic photocopying, recording or otherwise, without clearance from The School of Art, Aberystwyth University.

The right of John Harvey to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-899095-40-7

Published by School of Art Press, Aberystwyth University Designed by John Harvey

Front cover illustration: Lucas Cranach the Elder (14721553) Martin Luther preaching 1547 Oil on panel Predella from the Reformation Altar Church of St Marien Wittenburg Germany

Back cover illustration:
Pew Bibles 2009 Old Whaling Church Edgartown, Marthas Vineyard Massachusetts Photograph by John Harvey 

THE PICTORIAL BIBLE III & THE AURAL BIBLE II The Bible in Translation John Harvey  Acknowledgements

I am grateful to: the Arts Council of Wales, Aberystwyth University, and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales for the financial support given to this project; National Library of Wales, National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, Sian Records, Phil Garratt, Neil Holland, Chris Illiff, Robert Meyrick, and Dafydd Roberts for their practical help, support, and encouragement. All photographs and the catalogue design are by the artist.

Note: Dimensions are in centimetres, height width.

John Harvey (Professor of Art, School of Art, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK)

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Introduction: The Pictorial Bible & The Aural Bible Series

The Pictorial Bible series represents a coming together of two faculties (believing and seeing); two cultures (the Bible and visuality); and two disciplines, principally (biblical studies and art practice). Within the network of these interactions, the works are concerned with visualising biblical texts with reference to a tradition espoused by Judaism and aniconic movements within Christianity that is predicated upon the illegitimacy of pictorialising spiritual concepts and scriptural stories and events, and which instead turned the word of God and the tenets of belief into images.1

The Bible in Translation is the third project in The Pictorial Bible series (following Settings of the Psalms, 2000 and Seal up the Vision and Prophecy, 2007) and the second project in The Aural Bible series (following R R B V E T N O A, 2015) 1.2 The project investigates ways in which texts from, commentaries upon, and cultural articulations of, the Judaeo-Christian Bible can be transformed into visual and aural representations. The printed, spoken, and heard word is subjected to a hermeneutical process that deploys systems of codification, excision, and redaction, and techniques of collage, superimposition, and abstraction. By these means, the source material yields significances, connections, and resonances that are not ordinarily evident. The objective is to produce, what Mia Mochizuki has termed (with reference to seventeenth-century Netherlandish tradition of Protestant word-based decoration) an anti- image: one that is shaped and delimited as much by Judaeo-Christianitys theology of Gods invisibility, aniconicism, and the exigencies of scripture (as understood by Calvinist exegesis)

1 1 CD Cover: R R B V E T N O A
2015 14-part sound work
National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
 as by formal and abstract visual values.3 Thus, in keeping with the Protestant principle of the primacy of Scripture, the biblical texts serve as the terminus a quo for the visual and aural artefacts.

The research has been conducted through a series of experiments (in the sense of being both innovative acts and tests) designed to interrelate: a) text and image; b) text and sound; and c) text, image, and sound:

a) The visual artefacts (paintings, drawings, collages, and digital images) extend strategies that were previously undertaken in The Pictorial Bible I and II to: abstractly codify letters and words from the Bible; adapt pages from printed Bibles as the basis of images; and engage, constructively, with the Judaeo-Christian restriction on representation 2. The new works are based upon not only the Hebrew source text and English translations of the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) but also the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew translations of the New Testament.
b) The audio artefacts: are, similarly, derived from a systematization of the biblical texts; engage with the historical and contemporary culture of Protestantism; use found sounds (for example, recordings of preaching and readings from the scriptures) as the basis of composition; and serve as either an audio analogue of the visual artefacts or an ambient context for the visual artefacts.
c) The interrelationship of text, image, and sound is established by way of a chain of responsive connections, whereby the image transfigures the text, and the sound transfigures either or both the image and the biblical text. It is also achieved by exhibiting visual, textual, and audio artefacts together in exhibition and performance contexts.
The decisions to, for the first time, include a dimension of performance in my practice is motivated by a personal dissatisfaction with exhibiting. Ordinarily, visual artists (whose work is not by nature performative) have too little opportunity for meaningful contact

2 2 Covers: The Pictorial Bible I & II 2000 & 2007 National Library of Wales,
Aberystwyth & School of Art, Aberystwyth

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  not performative by nature) have too little opportunity for meaningful contact with their audience. My aim is to provide a context for them and myself to exchange perceptions and ideas, responsively and responsibly. To this end, the work is also shown and heard at public and academic lectures and seminars. (The first two projects in The Pictorial Bible series were also promoted by these means.)

The visual and aural works are presented within two contexts. One is religious: churches, chapels, and academic conferences on biblical, spiritual, or ecclesiastical themes, so that religionists (who might not otherwise venture into a contemporary art gallery) can engage them. I also want to introduce the work to those who may not have any association with religion, by placing it within an art gallery. The two settings illicit contrasting responses on the part of the percipient or audient.

In, for example, a church, ones contemplation (whether religious or aesthetic) of an artwork may be affected by a combination of other artworks, the architectural surroundings and acoustics, ecclesiastical furnishings, the sound of music, prayer, and preaching, the presence of worshippers and visitors, the smell of incense, and the ambient temperature. (I explored the influence of the ecclesiastical context on the presentation and reception of my Works from The Pictorial Bible Series, held at Wesleys Chapel and Museum of Methodism, London in 2007 3. Contemporary art galleries, for their part, have comparatively fewer fittings and functions to either distract from, or compliment, an encounter with the work.

The overarching ambition of the project is, therefore, to integrate the textual, visual, and audible (as well as the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional) into an aesthetic and cohesive whole.

3 3 Wesleys Chapel and Museum of Methodism 2007 London

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  The Pictorial Bible III: The Bible in Translation

Prevenient: My Mothers New Testament My mothers New Testament was the first Bible that I ever opened 4. The book was licensed in Edinburgh in April 1936. It was printed by the Collins clear-type press in a quadragesimo-octavo format and set in a minion font. The text is printed using letterpress on so-called Bible paper or India paper (a derivative of Chinese paper), which was also used for printing engravings and woodcuts. The flyleaf also bears the residual marks of a partially erased drawing in red crayon made by a six year old for whom an expanse of empty paper proved too tempting. The Bible always invites visual embellishment.

Bible Studies Bible Studies is an open-ended and occasional series of interventions with the Bible as printed text Plates 17. They take the form, variously, of edits, excisions, occlusions, redactions, disorderings, and embellishments undertaken in order to articulate an idea that is embedded in a verse or a word. In one sense, the process is an act of illumination (in the sense of both an elucidation and decoration), wherein the imagery seeps into the text, rather than remains on the margins, and the printed text and the layout of the page is as much a part of the artwork as any disruption of, or addition to, it on my part.

Image & Superscription The series refers to the titulus (inscription) a panel that was affixed to the cross above Christs head at the crucifixion Plates 811. The artefact, which is mentioned in all four gospels, is inscribed with a text in three languages Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that variously proclaim: The is the King of the Jews (Matt. 27.37), The King of the Jews (Mk 15.26), This is the King of the Jew (Lk 23.38), and Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (Jn 19.19-20). In the artworks, the text of each verse is poured into a regular grid in the order of the languages mentioned in the gospel accounts (1-4). The encoding for the letters is informed by the concept of a sundial. In the gospels, the events leading up to the crucifixion, and the event and its concomitant circumstances, are measured in time. For example:

4 4 Prevenient: My Mothers New Testament 1936/1965/2014 London & New York: Collins Clear-Type Press Authorised Version

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

5 Plate 1 Bible Studies: God/Word (Gen. 1.124; Jn 1.17) 2013 letterpress ink and carbon powder toner on paper 18.9 24 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

6 Plate 2 Bible Studies: Begat/Jesus (Matt.1.12.1) 2013 gouache and carbon powder toner on paper 21.8 29.2 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

7 Plate 3 Bible Studies: Line Upon Line, Line Upon Line (Isa. 26.2129.7) 2014 carbon powder toner on paper 17 20.5 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

8 Plate 4 Bible Studies: Rivers (Gen. 1.262.19) 2013 carbon powder toner on paper 21 14 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

9 Plate 5 Bible Studies: Justified (Sins Removed) (Acts 2.374.22) 2013 carbon powder toner on paper 18.5 23.6 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

10 Plate 6 Bible Studies: Justified (Removed Sins) (Acts 2.374.22) 2013 carbon powder toner on paper 18.5 23.6 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

11 Plate 7 Bible Studies: Lamentations (He Hath ... Pulled Me to Pieces) (Lam. 3.11) 2007 carbon powder toner, pencil
& gouache on paper 15.8 20.7 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

12 Plate 8 Image & Superscription: Matthew (Matt. 27.37) 2012/14 water-based emulsion on board
30 65 Greek, Hebrew, Latin Vulgate Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

13 Plate 8 Image & Superscription: Mark (Mk 15.26) 2012/14 water-based emulsion on board
30 35 Greek, Hebrew, Latin Vulgate Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

14 Plate 10 Image & Superscription: Luke (Lk. 23.38) 2012/14 water-based emulsion on board
30 45 Greek, Hebrew, Latin Vulgate Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

15 Plate 11 Image & Superscription: John (Jn 19.19) 2012/14 water-based emulsion on board
40 50 Greek, Hebrew, Latin Vulgate Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  The is the King of the Jews (Matt. 27.37), The King of the Jews (Mk 15.26), This is the King of the Jew (Lk 23.38), and Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (Jn 19.1920). In the artworks, the text of each verse is poured into a regular grid in the order of the languages mentioned in the gospel accounts 5. The encoding for the letters is informed by the concept of a sundial. In the gospels, the events leading up to the crucifixion, and the event and its concomitant circumstances, are measured in time. For example:

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice Eli, Eli, lama sabbachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt. 27.456).

The artworks system follows the logic of a clock, or specifically a sundial. The dial, which is set within each square of the grid, is subdivided into as many parts as there are letters each the language: Hebrew (22 divisions), Greek (24 divisions), and Latin (26 divisions). Each letter is mapped onto its corresponding position. For instance, the first letter of each alphabet is set at 12 oclock, the second, around 1 oclock, and so forth. The portion of the clock behind the timeline is rendered in black and the portion in front of the line, white (evoking the play of shadow and light on the plane of the dial). The resultant shapes fortuitously resemble thorns, which, in view of the subject matter of the artworks, and the position of the original plaque (above Christs head), is entirely apposite.

16 5 Image & Superscription: Mark Greek, Latin Vulgate, and
Hebrew formation

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Intercessions Intercessions comprises 64 prayer words derived from the Book of Common Prayer (1662) 5. They arranged into four sets of 16 words that are made visible on LED monitors Plate 12. The words combine randomly in a variety of chance configurations (like the tumblers on a one-armed bandit), continuously auto-generating prayer requests of more or less syntactical integrity and semantic sense. There are 65,536 possible permutations.

Trust in Thy Word
The painting renders only one of the 121 words that make up the Authorised Version setting of the sixth section ( vav) of Psalm 119. As such, the work consists almost entirely of rendered 'passive' cells. The objective was to visualise trust, which occurs once only in this section, and occupies the 30th square in an 11 by 11 grid. The five active intervals corresponding to the letters TRUST merge into one. This is because the letters making up the word RSTU are consecutive in the alphabet. In the midst of the overall whiteness of the picture, the word is almost invisible. Similarly, in the realm of faith, the object of trust, like that of hope, is unseen Plate 13.

Chi Rho (Christogram) This is an early Christian monogram that abbreviates the name of Jesus Christ. It is, thus, an abstraction; one that superimposes the two Greek letters X (chi) and P (rho). The artwork is divided into 24 vertical sections corresponding the number of letters in the Greek alphabet. Only sections 17 and 22 (corresponding to the 17th (rho) and 22nd (chi) letters are in-filled Plate 14.

17 5 Intercessions: word sequences 2011/14

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

18 Plate 12 Intercessions 2011/14 digital medium and LED screens

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

19 Plate 13 Trust in Thy Word (Ps. 119.418) 2014 water-based emulsion on board 30 30 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

20 Plate 14 Chi Rho (Christogram) 2013 water-based emulsion on board 45 45 Greek Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Preaching = Painting
The artwork is a response to the apostle Pauls admonition: O Foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? (Gal. 3.1) Plate 15. The Galatians had disobeyed the truth in defiance of the vivid description Paul had given them of Christ through his ministry. Martin Luthers (14831546) commentary draws out the pictorial analogy. It is, he writes as if Paul were to say: No painter could as vividly draw Christ by his colours, as I have painted him by my preaching.

This is a unique biblical example of the principle addressed in the text: specifically, the preaching of Christ crucified depicted as an image and the image, as a text. The problem is that of harmonizing the biblical text, the concept of preaching, and the image of the crucifixion in an image, while maintaining the principle on non-representation. A figurative solution to the problem was painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder (14721553) in 1547 (front cover). It portrays Luther as preacher, on the predella of the Reformation altarpiece in the Church of St. Marien, Wittenberg. It is not known whether Cranach had the Galatians text or Luthers commentary upon it in mind. But the artists rendering expresses the spirit of both. Cranach depicts the gathered assembly on the left. Luther, situated on the right, is shown preaching. He does so, not by speaking (his mouth is closed) but, rather, by pointing to the image of Christ on the cross that is, somehow, present in this otherwise bare-boned interior of a reformation church. The scene of crucifixion is visible to the congregation. (They are looking up at it.) The painting does not depict a collective external vision. Rather, it shows us what otherwise cannot be seen, the picture of Christ formed in their minds as a result of Luthers preaching.

As in Image & Superscription, the temporal context of the crucifixion informs the artworks system. Each letter of the Greek text is set within a 44 cell grid. This provides 12 points of intersection on the outline of the shape. Each cell is assigned to one of 12 hours. Following the logic of the clock face, each hour can refer to either am or pm. Thus the rotation represents the passing of time over a whole day. The Greek alphabet has 24 letters. Each letter is assigned to an hour. The diagram shows the denotation for alpha in the 12 oclock to 1 oclock position. Correspondingly, the second letter of the alphabet is at 2 oclock to 3 oclock, and so on, and occupies two squares of the shape.

21 6 Preaching = Painting: letter form 2014

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

22 Plate 15 Preaching = Painting (Gal. 3.1) 2014 water-based ink jet on paper 80.32 40 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  As in Image & Superscription, the temporal context of the crucifixion informs the artworks system. Each letter of the Greek text is set within a 4 4 cell grid. This provides 12 points of intersection on the outline of the shape. Each cell is assigned to one of 12 hours. Following the logic of the clock face, each hour can refer to either am or pm. Thus the rotation represents the passing of time over a whole day. The Greek alphabet has 24 letters. Each letter is assigned to an hour. The diagram shows the denotation for alpha in the 12 oclock to 1 oclock position. Correspondingly, the second letter of the alphabet is at 2 oclock to 3 oclock, and so on, and occupies two squares of the shape 6.

The colours assigned to each letter/hour are derived from a digital reproduction Cranach the Elders predella (above). The image was processed through a digital colour-selective filter, which abbreviated the whole range of the paintings hues to just 24 individual colours 7.

A Wordless Gospel: Mark The piece is an adaptation of a form of biblical, textual abstraction native to the nineteenth century British evangelical tradition of preaching to the young, illiterate, or those who spoke a language other than English. (It found considerable application during the period of missionary expansion 8.) The so-called wordless book consisted of single pages of blocks of colour. Each colour was a non-verbal cue to a particular aspect of Christian doctrine. For example, black represented sin, white, atonement or righteousness, red, the blood of Christ, blue, baptism, green, growth, and gold or yellow, heaven. These are the symbolic associations used in the artwork Plate 16.

23 7 Preaching = Painting: Cranach palette 2014

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

24 Plate 16 A Wordless Gospel: Mark 2014 carbon powder toner & liquid gold on paper 25.2 33 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  In A Wordless Gospel, the pages of Marks gospel are each assigned a colour on the basis of the texts initial content. For example, if a page refers, first, to baptism (or a cognate concept), it is coloured blue. The 33 pages of the gospel are arranged in order, in three lines of 11.

Sindebt (Cheirographon) The artwork is an articulation of one aspect of the apostle Pauls theology regarding the effectual work of Christs redemptive sacrifice on the cross for believers Plate 17. He uses the figurative metaphor of a written debt (like an IOU), which Christ cancelled and, which like him (and the titulus), was affixed to the gibbet: Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Col. 2.14).

At the time of Christ, the promissory memorandum (cheirographon), written in the debtors own hand, was inscribed on a ledger either on a clay tablet or papyri. Paul envisages the debt (the record of charges or ordinances against us regarding laws broken and sins committed) being figuratively smeared, erased, or wiped from the ledger written off, as it were. Christ had paid the price on our behalf.

In the system of the artwork, the letters of the verse are poured into (fixed to) a cross formation. Each letter is associated with the name of a particular sin that begins with that letter. For example, B (the first letter in the sequence) is for bitterness. The name of the sin and its various manifestations are handwritten on ledger paper. The handwriting becomes smeared as the letters proceed through the alphabet by the progressive and incremental application of a 1.0 digital pixel blur. Thus, A is sharp, while M is made indistinct to the measure of 14.0 pixels. In this way the process of smearing is made evident 9.

<B>YHWH (Tetragrammaton) In the Jewish tradition, YHWH (most likely pronounced Yahweh) the written form, in Hebrew, of the most holy name of God. The four-letter word (Greek: tetragrammaton) is considered by some Jews today to be too holy to be spoken aloud. It is, thus, a silent word; an abstraction of a word in the fullest sense of a symbol that can be both written and uttered. In the system of artwork, the four letters YH on top and WH beneath are mapped onto four squares of 22

25 8 engraving depicting preaching using a wordless book, from: China Inland Mission, Chinas Millions London, 1882

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  YHWH (Tetragrammaton) In the Jewish tradition, YHWH (most likely pronounced Yahweh) is the written form, in Hebrew, of the most holy name of God. The four-letter word (Greek: tetragrammaton) is considered by some Jews today to be too holy to be spoken aloud. It is, thus, a silent word; an abstraction of a word. In the system of artwork, the four letters YH on top and WH beneath are mapped onto four squares of 22 divisions (corresponding to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet). The darkness of the painting gestures towards one of the biblical metaphors for the fearfulness and mystery of a holy God (1 Kng 8.12, Psm 97.2) Plate 18.

Large Letters Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand (Gal. 6.11). This puzzling statement has received various, conjectural interpretations. Some scholars understand it to refer to the misshapen appearance of his ungainly writing (the result of deteriorating eyesight); others have understood large as emphasizing his authority and authorship and grapho-literacy. We do not know whether letter refers to individual letters or to the whole epistle. The artwork responds to the surface meaning of the text rather than try to reconcile textual and hermeneutical difficulties Plate 19. The Greek letters of the verse are written in hand and digitally enlarge vertically to several hundred percent their original size 10.

26 9 Sindebt (Cheirographon): S 2014

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

27 Plate 17 Sindebt (Cheirographon) (Col. 2.14) 2014 carbon powder toner on paper 80 80 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

28 Plate 18 YHWH (Tetragrammaton) 2013 water-based and oil-based emulsion on board 99 99 Hebrew Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

29 Plate 19 Large Letters (Gal. 6.11) 2014 water-based ink jet print on paper 40 30 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Painted with Vermilion That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion (Jer. 22.14) 11. The words are spoken by Jehoiakim, king of Judah from 608 to 598 BCE. In the view of the prophet Jeremiah, he built his houses unrighteously, using ill-gotten gain and by the exploitation of his workforce. The artwork addresses elements of the design of the kings sumptuous house Plate 20.

The Floating Bible: Miracle of the Risen Word
The visual artwork is a response to the sound artwork of the same title (see page 54 for description). Here, each word on the open pages is written out by hand (the equivalent of speaking the text), scanned, and digitally stretched, word by word, to the column height of the text in the Gideons Bible, and arranged within the outline of the whole page format in either a recto or a verso orientation. The 54 individual pieces are arranged in order as a 6 10 grid formation floated above the gallery floor Plates 21 and 22.

30 10 Large Letters: delta (pre-stretch) 2015

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
11 Painted with Vermilion: letter infill 2015



31 Plate 20 Painted with Vermilion (Jer. 22.14) 2015 tempera on cedar veneer on board 30 12 Authorised Version Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

32 Plate 21 The Floating Bible: Miracle of the Risen Word: Matt. 19.28 (Matt.19.3b20.25) 2015 carbon powder toner on Bible paper on board 21 28 (54) Authorised Version

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

33 Plate 22 The Floating Bible: Miracle of the Risen Word: Matt. 19.3b8 (Matt.19.3b20.25) 2015 carbon powder toner on Bible paper on board 21 28 (54) Authorised Version

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  The Aural Bible II: The Bible in Translation (2CD)

Graven Image
The composition is based on the phrase graven image, taken from the second commandment (Ex. 20.46). The phase comprises eight different letters the same number of letters as there are notes in a western musical scale. The eight letters are arranged in alphabetical order and assigned to the seven distinct notes and the upper and lower tonic notes of the scale. Since graven image begins with G, the eight letters are assigned to a G scale. And, since the subject and tenor of the texts semantic content is grave, the work is in a minor key. The first and last (or tonic) notes and the repeated letters (A and E and their associated notes) are differentiated, musically, by scoring them in different octaves. The notes are played in the order of their corresponding letters (first g, then r, the a, and so forth) until the phrase is spelled out 12.

Personnel: John Harvey. Instrumentation: Apogee Duet audio interface, Apple MacBook OX S 10.4, Apple Logic Studio Pro 9, Boss ME-25 Multiple-Effects unit, Digitech Hardwire DL-8 delay/looper, Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi fuzz box, Seymour Duncan SFX-01 Pick-Up Booster, and Traveler EG-1 guitar. Context: Recorded live at a lecture entitled The Un-Graven Image: An Aniconic Approach to Art delivered at the Contemplations of the Spiritual in Contemporary Art conference, Liverpool Cathedral, UK on December 11, 2010.

34 12 Graven Image Ex. 20.46 2010

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  The Second Commandment The piece features a recording of the maverick Calvinist minister Arthur W. Pink (18861952) reading the second commandment (Ex. 20.4). The first section comprises Pinks voice and a looped and overlaid guitar part. In the second section, Pinks delivery is split into two channels, set out-of-phase, and reduced to four statements: image, graven, Thou shalt not make unto thee, and any. The syntax is further dislocated by a process of audio fracture and collaging: an allusion to the first pair of the tables of the law which Moses broke into pieces when he beheld the iniquity of the gold calf (Ex. 32.19). At the end of the composition there is an evocation of a numinous stasis and coherence anticipating the renewal of the commandments on the second set of tables (Ex. 34.2728) 13.

The biblical text is made audible not only by Pinks voice but also by the application of a systemic process devised by the American composer John Cage (191292). It operates by assigning every letter of the alphabet to a note in the C Major scale, so as to permit any text to be converted into musical notation. On this occasion, the palette of notes, here played on guitar, is further delimited by the works title: graven image. The range of letters that make up those words cover 6 of the 7 distinct tones in the C Major scale in Cages alpha-notational system. The only tone that is not covered by the words is C itself. But as C is the scales tonic, it is present among the other notes as a conditioning principle (since all the other notes are naturals rather than a sharps or flats).

Lyrics The second commandment: Though shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath ... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands that love me, and keep my commandments. Exodus twenty, four through six.

Personnel: A.W. Pink and John Harvey.

Instrumentation: Adobe Audion CS6, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Apogee Gio

35 13 The Second Commandment Ex. 20.4 2011 04.26

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands that love me, and keep my commandments. Exodus twenty, four through six. The second commandment. The second commandment. Image. Graven. Thou shalt not make unto thee. Any.

Personnel: A.W. Pink and John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition CS6, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Apogee Gio guitar interface Apple Mac Book Pro OS X 10.8, Apple Logic Studio Pro 9, Apple MainStage 2, Boomerang III phrase sample pedal (two connected in parallel), Roland FV-50H and FV-50L volume pedals, and Traveler EG-1 guitar
Context: Recorded live at a lecture entitled An Art of Predestination: TextualVisualAural Approaches to Imaging the Bible delivered to the Calvinism and Culture conference, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, USA, April 15, 2011.
Source: Sample derived from recordings on an open-access online archive of sermon by A. W. Pink and other ministers, accessed June 2009.

Preach to the Beat
The source of the composition is an entirely natural collage of local sounds recorded at the corner of Mosley Street and Parker Street, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester 14. It comprises the voice of a black-African street preacher, the indifferent hubbub of passersby, the noise of Metrolink trams, and the distant pulse and shouts from a live performance of West-African drummers and dancers. On occasions, the rhythms of the preachers declamations matched those of the drums; the whoop of the performing troupe seemed to be in affirmation of his assertions; while the toot of the trams punctuated proceedings like celebratory trumpets. The composition makes these components and their connections clearer and consistent.

36 14 Preach to the Beat 2012 01.47

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  voice of a black-African street preacher, the indifferent hubbub of passersby, the noise of Metrolink trams, and the distant pulse and shouts from a live performance of West-African drummers and dancers. Together, they express a heady fusion of earnestness and enthusiasm. On occasions, the rhythms of the preachers declamations matched those of the drums; the whoop of the performing troupe seemed to be in affirmation of his assertions; while the toot of the trams punctuated proceedings like celebratory trumpets. The composition makes these components and their connections clearer and consistent.

Lyrics
Jesus is alive! He died on the cross! They buried him! On the third day, he rose again! This is the religion I want to follow.

Every truth is a lie! Political truth is a lie! Religious truth' is a lie! It is only Jesus! He is the way, he is the truth, and he is alive!

Let me ask you a question: If you were to stand before God tonight; if you were to die tonight,
will you go to heaven, or will you go to hell?

Lets think logically! Logically!

You dont have to be afraid. Make a decision, today. You have a right to make a decision, today.

God will forgive you!

37 15 Amen Amen 2011 01.41

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Lets think logically! Logically!

You dont have to be afraid. Make a decision today. You have a right to make a decision, today.

God will forgive you! It doesnt matter: your lifestyle. It doesnt matter what youve done. Jesus will forgive you! I am talking about forgiveness. And, that forgiveness is revealed in the man we call Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the answer! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the way! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the truth! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is your life!

Personnel: Anonymous street preacher, drummers, dancers, crowd, and John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition 3.0, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, and Canon PowerShot G12 camera.
Source: Sample derived from a recording of street preaching at the closing celebrations of the We Face Forward: Music from West Africa Today, free festival held at Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, UK, September 15, 2012.

38 16 The Conversion of St Paul 2012 Detail from Hans Baldung-Grien The Conversion of St Paul (c.1515) woodcut The image has been divided into equal parts, numbered 1 to 12, and their sequence reordered by swapping the position of alternate integers: 3 1 4 2 7 5 8 6 11 9 12 10

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Amen Amen Amen. Amen. is the preacher's affirmation and the congregation's response at the close of a prayer of commitment and an evangelistic address. The composition is based on repetition. The phrase 'Amen. Amen' is conceived of as a single copy (an echo) of one word, which phrase is also copied and reiterated throughout the length of the piece. Amen. Amen. is treated as an object and its reflection too. The principle of mirroring is explored by reversing (or inverting) both the phrase and several of the preachers expressions of confidence. Curiously, amen played backwards sounds like shut up (evoking the whisper of an indignant evil spirit railing against the light). The phenomenon is an auditory illusion (apophenia) perceived by the listener within patterns of unfamiliar sounds 15.

Lyrics Luis Palau: Thank you my God. Congregation: Thank you my God. LP: I know I have eternal life. C: I know I have eternal life. LP: Because Christ lives in me. C: Because Christ lives in me. LP: In his name I thank you. C: In his name I thank you. LP: Amen. C: Amen.

L: I thank you for Jesus Christ. C: I thank you for Jesus Christ. LP: That he would die on a cross. C: That he would die on a cross.
LP: Because Christ lives in me. C: Because Christ lives in me. LP: In his name I thank you.

39 17 The Conversion of St Paul: Sample 2/Permutation 2 2012 04.12

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Demon: Shut up! Shut up! [repeated throughout] LP: [reverse utterance] C: Thank you for Jesus Christ.
LP: [reverse utterance] C: Thank you for dying on a cross.
LP: [reverse utterance] C: Thank you for Jesus Christ.
LP: [reverse utterance] C: Thank you for dying on a cross.
LP: [reverse utterance] Because Christ lives in me. C: Because Christ lives in me. LP: [reverse utterance] C: In his name I thank you, God. Amen. LP: [reverse utterance]

Personnel: Luis Palau, congregation, demon, and John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition 3.0, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, and Sony Microcassette- corder M-627V.
Source: Sample derived from a recording of a mission meeting led by the Argentinean evangelist Luis Palau, held at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, May 16, 1988.

40 18 The Conversion of St Paul: Sample 3/Permutation 3 2012 04.12

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  The Conversion of St Paul
The compositions are based upon a recording of bell ringing at St Pauls Cathedral, London, made while standing at the north side of building and facing west 16. The sound, produced by a
ringing method called the Cambridge Surprise Maximus, is heard to reflect off the faade of Chapter House, opposite, and thereby produce a natural reverberation, delay, and doubling of the audio image. Four 3-second samples were extracted from the recording, of which two are used as the basis for the compositions here. Thus, an individual sample preserves only a portion of the sequence of tuned bells.

The samples are divided into twelve consecutive sections (corresponding to the number of bells used to perform the ring), each 250ms long. These sections are reordered, digitally, following arithmetical systems of permutation derived from the principles of method ringing. In method ringing (which is a form of change ringing) each bell is given a number (112 in the case of the bells at the Cathedral). The sequence is permuted by swapping the position of two bells. For example, below: in the first permutation (line two), bell 2 sounds first and bell 1, second). In the second permutation (line three), bell 1 exchanges place with bell 3 and is played third. Over the course of eleven changes, bell 1 will move forward from the first to the twelfth position in the sequence:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2 3 1 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Twelve bells have 479,001,600 permutations. As the anonymous writer of Tintinnalogia: Or, The Art of Ringing (London, 1671) speculated: And supposing that twelve men should take 12 bells with intent to ring the changes on them, they would be Seventy five Years,

41 19 Double Talk 2013 02.15

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  with intent to ring the changes on them, they would be Seventy five Years, ten Months, one Week and three Dayes in ringing them, according to the proportion of ringing 720 changes in an hour; reckoning 24 hours to the day, and 365 dayes in the Year.

Each sample is subjected to a specific permutation. Two 250ms sound sections are swapped (in the manner of the bells). Each sample has as many variants as required to explore all the permutations. (It is equivalent to completing a peal in bell ringing). Each variant is looped (mimicking the repetition of the melody in bell ringing) twelve times. In Sample 2/Permutation 2, the pair of numbers closest to each other, from the centre outward, change in each sequence 17. In Sample 3/Permutation 3, the pair of numbers furthest from each other progress to each others position throughout the succession of sequences 18.

In Christian theology, to convert (Greek: ) is, variously, to change or adapt in form, or turn back, or turn ones self about which processes and mutation are precisely what the sequences governing the compositions have undergone.

Personnel: St Pauls Cathedral Guild of Ringers and John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition 3.0, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, bells of St Pauls Cathedral, Sony ECM-DS70P microphone, and Sony MZ-RH10 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player/Recorder. Source: Sample recorded at St Paul's Cathedral, London, UK, February 20, 2005.

42 20 Free Delivery (Deliverance) End-Time Deliverance Ministry 201315

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Double Talk The source sample was taken from a sermon broadcast by a fundamentalist Christian radio station in the USA 19. The preacher speaks in an unusually slow, deliberate, and affected manner. His theme is the divine inspiration of the Judaeo-Christian scriptures. In the composition, the sample is doubled. The second voice begins 3500ms after the first, as in a catch that never repeats. In a catch, the same lyric is sung by two or more voices in such a way as to intermingle, overlap, and generate new words and phrases that are not evident or audible when it is sung solo. The outcome of the process is not cacophony and confusion but, rather, a measured syncopation that preserves (and accentuates) the pace, rhythm, dynamics, musicality, and silences of the speech pattern, as well as the comprehensibility of what is spoken by each voice.

Lyrics
We can read in Jeremiah, chapter 36, for example, the account of how God told the prophet Jeremiah to write Gods words. Where we read in verse 2: Take thee a roll of a book. Just think of this now: this is God speaking to a literal, physical prophet named Jeremiah. Take thee a roll of a book and write therein all the words I have spoken unto thee. Talk about a personal relationship between two people: between God and the prophet Jeremiah. This is how God wrote the Bible, as a matter of fact. That is why we are able to say that the words in the Bible are from the mouth of God. Theyre not from the mind of Moses, or David, or Paul, or Peter. They are from the mind of God. Oh my! Could anything be more wonderful to contemplate ... to think about? They are Gods words and are, therefore, perfectly written as long as we dont tamper with them. May all of us diligently study Gods word. And may God in his great mercy give us understanding. And, above all, may God give each one of us a great love for Gods word.

43 21 Free Delivery (Deliverance) End-Time Deliverance Ministry: Catatonic (Youve Been Found Out) 201315 01.12

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Personnel: Anonymous preacher and John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition CS6, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Roberts R9962 Compact Shortwave Radio, and Tascam DR-2d digital recorder.
Source: Recording of an unknown Christian radio broadcast in the USA, July 1, 2013.

Free Delivery (Deliverance) End-Time Deliverance Ministry
This suite of sonic essays examines aspects of an American fundamentalist deliverance ministry. The ministry is predicated upon the unorthodox belief that Christians can be inhabited by demons. The evil spirits manifest themselves in the form of physical and mental illness, spiritual and emotional afflictions, addictions and phobias, delinquency, inappropriate dispositions and attitudes, the bad fruit of ancestral iniquities passed down from one generation to another, and the inhabitation of electronic equipment 20.

Deliverance is achieved chiefly through prayers spoken aloud either in English or tongues (glossolalia) that entreat the demon to depart. The vindictive and recalcitrant entity is heard to resist eviction and, through the mouth of its host, to remonstrate angrily with the deliverer with screams and invectives before being cast out. Each demon is summoned by name, which name represents a particular infirmity that it inflicts; for example, one called Catatonic stupefies the victim.

44 22 Free Delivery (Deliverance) End-Time Deliverance Ministry: Boyce and Boice (Electronic-Malfunctioning Demons) 201315 01.25

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  The source material for the essays is derived from cassette-tape recordings of church meetings and radio interviews, and also protracted services of deliverance conducted in the home with many adults and children in attendance. Recordings of hymns, either sung by believers or played on a midi keyboard, often accompany the deliverance service. O, the blood of Jesus (the sonorous backdrop to the End-Time Deliverance Ministrys services) serves not only to promote an atmosphere of worship but also as a powerfully active agent in the process of dispossession; demons flee when they hear it, deliverers insist. The aim of the compositions is to clarify and intensify the essence of several recordings that explore the practice of deliverance.

Catatonic (Youve Been Found Out) The source recording captures the efforts of a young female deliverer and an adult male deliverer to drive out a demon named Catatonic, set against a chorus of reiterative tongues speaking. The demon, in this instance, shouts and screams its maledictions and protestations in tongues too 21.

Lyrics
Male Deliverer and Tongues Speakers: Break that curse; Catanonic, come on up [repeated throughout]. Female Deliverer: You cant run. You cant hide; Catatonic, I call you up. You cant run. You cant hide; Catatonic, I call you up. Demoniac: [reverse glossolalic response]

FD: You cant run. You cant hide; Catatonic, I call you up. D: [glossolalic response]

45 23 Free Delivery (Deliverance) End-Time Deliverance Ministry: Come on Out (Sealed Emotions) 201315 01.46

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  FD: You cant run. You cant hide; Catatonic, I call you up. D: [reverse glossolalic response] FD: You cant run. You cant hide; Catatonic, I call you up. D: [reverse glossolalic response] FD: Found out! Youve been found out! Found out! Youve been found out! D: [reverse glossolalic response] FD: Found out! Youve been found out! Found out! Youve been found out! FD: You cant run. You cant hide; Catatonic, I call you up. D: [reverse glossolalic response] MD: I said, deal with this thing. You gotta deal with this thing.

Boyce and Boice (Electronic-Malfunctioning Demons) Boyce and Boice are two demons that interfere with electronic equipment, such as a telephone, computer, printer, television, and motorcar, causing it to malfunction. The demons can be exorcised, in the name of Jesus. Bois (Fr. woody) was used by a French-speaking guide to Capt. B..L. E. Bonneville of the US Army on seeing the verdant woodland on which site Fort Boise, Idaho, which was established by the Hudson Bay Company in 1834 22.

Lyrics: Deliverer: Boyce and Boice. Boyce and Boice. Boyce and Boice. Boyce and Boice. Their job is to mess with your electronic gear, whatever it is: whether its telephone, or radio, or whatever.

Radio Interviewer 1: Demons come down the telephone line and screw-up our computers.

46 24 Eschaton Ekstasis 2014 01.55

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Lyrics
Deliverer: Boyce and Boice. Boyce and Boice. Boyce and Boice. Boyce and Boice. Their job is to mess with your electronic gear, whatever it is: whether its telephone, or radio, or whatever.
Radio Interviewer 1: Demons come down the telephone line and screw-up our computers. D: Electronic-malfunctioning demons. Radio Interviewer 2: Its a demonic spirit, which, uh, effects, uh, electronical equipment. D: Telephone demons can come right across the telephone line.
RI1: If I went to a porno site on my computer, right, get a whole lot of demons download ... D: Oh, absol ... Oh, yea! The computer just jams up; the printer jams up. My printer stops working. ... commanded them to leave my equipment, in the name of Jesus, and everything starts working again. They cast out they command Boyce and Boice to leave ... and everything starts working OK. You know the demon has gone when you no longer have the problem. You cant explain most things in deliverance. Its, you know, its not in the Bible ... But it works! Boyce and Boice are two demons that we know by experience. Maybe a million I dont know demons. Boyce and Boice just happen to be two of them.
RI1: That the two demons that are responsible for this both have names: ones called Boyce and the others called Boice. D: Boyce and Boice. RI1: Ah! Boices the other one.

47 25 Erased Messiah Recording Isa. 9.2 2015 08.04

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  D: Right, ah! RI1: I see. RI2: I learned about this one demon spirit they call Bosie. D: Boice and Boyce. B O I C E and B O Y C E. B O I S E and B O Y C E ... like Boise, Idaho.

Come on Out (Sealed Emotion) The composition responds to the vicarious, heartfelt and unconditional absolution and expulsion of hurt received from others human and demonic exercised by a female African-American preacher 23. The background music is derived from a midi keyboard rendering (played on the End-Time Deliverance Ministry website) of the first two lines of the hymn O, the Blood of Jesus, which has been slowed down considerably. The melodic line is in retrograde contrapunctual motion: that is to say, it is arranged as a counterpoint that involves a backwards version of the extract being superimposed upon the forward movement of the same.

Lyrics
I forgive every person who ever hurt me. I forgive every word that blasphemed me, or my names sake. And I command every curse of blasphemy to be broken ...

Come on out! Come on out! Come on out!

48 26 The Floating Bible: Miracle of the Risen Word Matt. 19.320.25 2015 413.25

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

... and cast from me, in Jesus name.

Come on out! Come on out! Come on out!

Every time someone said you wasnt any good, or called you a God forsake, you was ugly, or said anything about you that hurt your heart and caused you to cry: I break that curse off of you, in the name of Jesus.
And I command it to loose you.

I command that self worth, as the enemy wants to trod down and cause you to be defeated: Come on out! Come on out! Come on out!
I break every curse that defeats your self worth, in the mighty name of Jesus.
And I command it to loose you. Hallelujah!

I come against the spirit of rejection.
And I command it to loose you. Hallelujah! And I command that to loose you.

Where you didnt feel you belonged. You didnt belong there.
Where your emotions were sealed.
And I command it to loose you. Hallelujah!

And I come again: sealed emotion that cant give love and cant receive love.

Come on out! Come on out! Come on out! Emotions that cant love, receive love, and give love. Sealed emotion. And I command it to loose you. Hallelujah! I command that spirit to loose you.

49 27 Image and Inscription Ex. 19.134.5 2016 43.11

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  And I command it to loose you. Hallelujah!
Because of hurt in the past.

Come on out! Come on out! Come on out!

And I command that old python spirit to loose you, in the name of Jesus.
And I command it to loose you. Hallelujah!

Take a breath, and let it go! I call it out:

Come on out! Come on out! Come on out!

Emotions that cant love, receive love, and give love. Sealed emotion.
And I command it to loose you. Hallelujah!
I command that spirit to loose you.

Personnel: Anonymous deliverance ministers, preacher, and radio broadcasters, demons, and John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition CS6 and Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8. Source: Samples derived from recordings on the open-access online archive of the End-Time Deliverance Ministry, accessed February 2012; birdsong captured at Gregynog Hall, Newtown, Powys, May 26, 2012.

50 Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
28 Image and Inscription 2016 Detail from John Martin Moses Breaketh the Tables (1883) engraving Imperial Family Bible (1844)

 Eschaton Ekstasis
The sample is derived from a short-wave radio transmission captured by slowly spanning the wavelength between 17.5 and 17.7 MHz. Coincidentally and simultaneously, three consecutive stations were broadcasting American pastors preaching fervently on the theme of the end time: the tribulations and destruction of the unrepentant, and the blessings and ingathering of the redeemed. The appropriately doom-laden guitar accompaniment consists of three consecutive, sustained notes. The content of, and transitions between, the three sermons are precisely as they were recorded at the time of the broadcasts 24.

Lyrics Preacher 1: Calamity upon calamity, tragedy on tragedy, evil upon evil, and destruction upon destruction.
Preacher 2: Therefore, saith the Lord God, this is now the time that I have spoken. And it shall come to pass, Lord God, when throughout all the world there will be terror, there will be curse, and (...), and earthquakes, and fires, and (...) on every side. You have chose to chose Satan. So, therefore, at the hand of Satan, you shall enjoy his benefits: of sin and destruction, and death and dying. (...) O God (...). And Satan comes only to kill, and to destroy them all. And, so shall it be. No longer! No Longer, shall it be prolonged!
Preacher 3: Only ungodly. Those who know not, obey not, the gospel of Christ. Hes gonna destroy the wicked with the (...). And hes gonna cast the wicked one in the pit. Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Well be with the Saviour. Hallelujah! I believe it like that. Thats how I believe.

troduction: The Pictorial Bible Series

51 Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
29 Image and Inscription 2016 Detail from Gustav Dor Moses Coming Down from Mount Sinai (1891)
engraving Bibl yr Addoliad Teuluaidd [n.d]

 Personnel: Anonymous preachers and John Harvey.
Instrumentation: Adobe Audition CS6, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Avid Pro Tools 10, Eventide TimeFactor pedal, Eventide PitchFactor pedal, Eventide Space pedal, Electro Harmonix Freeze Sound Retainer pedal, Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar, Lehle Julian Parametric Booster pedal, Pigtronix Philosophers Tone compression pedal, Roberts R9962 Compact Shortwave Radio, Tascam DR-2d digital recorder, Zvex Box of Metal fuzz pedal. Source: Recording of a Christian radio broadcast in the USA, July 1, 2013.

Erased Messiah Recording
In August 2015, the so-called Islamic State militants blew up Palmyra's 2,000-year old temple of Baalshamin. The group had already destroyed several ancient sites in Iraq, some of which were among the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. Such atrocities were motivated by ISs desire to purge the regions that they had captured of the vestiges of idolatrous religion 25.

Christianity has dirtied its hands with such practices on numerous occasions throughout its history. For example, in the sixteenth century, Protestant iconoclastic riots broke out in Britain and those European countries in which the new movement had taken root. Individuals attacked, mutilated, overlaid, and destroyed many religious images (including those of God, Christ, Mary, prophets, and martyrs) in catholic churches, abbeys, and monasteries. From one perspective, Erased Messiah Recording is another and contemporary example of Protestant despoilation. I have attempted to erase the Messiah in an act of iconoclasm not unlike the physical abrasions, defacing, and corruptions exercised by some reformers on images of Christ. uction: The Pictorial Bible Series

52 30 Image and Inscription Copygraph XX engraver
2010

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  The source artefact is a Zonophone double-sided gramophone record, made in England between 1915 and 1926. The recording is part of George Frederic Handels (16851759) Messiah (1741) an icon of Christian music sung, with an instrumental accompaniment, by the bass Foster Richardson. Records of this period were made of shellac (a natural resin and polymer), and notoriously brittle. However, the surface of the disc is extremely resilient. The conceptual intent of the sound work was to erase the Messiah by punishing the disc's surface with coarse sandpaper. Curiously, after the first abrasion, the record sounded even better than it had prior to the attack. Even after 10 successive and fairly aggressive rubs, the original recording was still very present.

Robert Rauschenberg's (19252008) erasure one of Willem de Koonings (190497) works, Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953), did not remove the initial artist's marks entirely. There is a vestigial presence visible. The design for de Kooning's original drawing was known only to the two artists; Handle's oratorio, in contrast, is known widely. My problem in erasing such a popular image was that even the slightest hint of a residue is too much. Just a few audible cues are enough for someone in the know to reconstruct the whole tune in their head.

In theory, I needed only to obliterate the intaglio of the surface, and the encoded sound would disappear along with it. However, I had not reckoned upon either how deep the groove was cut, or how far down into the trough or valley of the groove the sound vibrations had been inscribed. If the groove was removed entirely, the stylus would skid from the outer to the inner circumference unimpeded. After seventeen discrete abrasions, pareto optimal was reached: the ghosts of the recording were now only faintly audible ebbing and flowing like the tide against the spit and shale-like sound of myriad surface corruptions while the disc remained playable.
duction: The Pictorial Bible Series

53 31 Image and Inscription metal matrix for English text 2010

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  At the close of the recording, just before the stylus was about to glide towards the centre of the disc, it got stuck in a groove. The second part of sound work is made up of separate recordings of the discs mechanical looping processed through high-, mid-, and low-pass filters played in synchronisation.

Personnel: Foster Richardson, orchestra, and John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition CS6, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Allen & Heath Xone:23C mixer, MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Stanton S-150 record turntable. Source: George Frederic Handel, The People That Walked in Darkness, from Messiah, Serial A185, Zonophone Records, Z-042093, c.191526.

The Floating Bible: Miracle of the Risen Word
The composition is based upon an article by Michael Andrew entitled Amazing Bible Floats in Midair published in the American tabloid Weekly World News on January 9, 1996. It describes a Bible that a maid discovered floating four feet above a bed in a motel on the outskirts of Sacramento, California. Religious experts spoke of the mysterious phenomenon as the miracle of the risen word. Dr Henry Wanz, a physicist, along with a scientific team were brought in to investigate the phenomenon. But after a battery of tests and efforts to establish whether there was evidence of chicanery, they concluded that there was no explanation for the suspension of the laws of gravity 26.

54 32 Image and Inscription Recording the engraving of the
Welsh text 2015

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  For Frank Glergins, a 50-year old ex-Marine and the motels owner, the sight of the floating Bible changed his life forever. The night before the discovery, a kindly-looking man with a beard checked into the motel and began a discussion about religion with him. Glergins confessed that he didnt believe in God, but the man assured him that You will believe tomorrow. The Bible was open at the page where it is written but with God all things are possible (Matt. 19.26). The motel owner believed that the message was intended both for him and the world: God could overcome every problem, no matter how difficult. The local clergy petitioned the Vatican to declare it a miracle, but to no avail, while churchman in the area urged the public not to believe that the bearded man (who could never be located) was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

During its twenty-eight year run, the Weekly World News published largely fictional stories as truth, including numerous articles about mutants, supernatural creatures, aliens, sightings of Elvis alive, and Big Foot. In this respect, the paper was a major contributor to the dissemination and origination of urban mythologies. More often than not, the settings associated with the encounters were vague, witnesses and experts were untraceable, and the stories, inauthenticable.

The story of the floating Bible conflates several established narratives of religious miracles. In the Roman Catholic tradition there are many claims to visions of the Host (or sacramental wafer), as well as crosses and crucifixes hovering in the air unsupported. The Bible, too, contains its own contribution to the suspension genre in the story of an axe head that floated upon the water (2 Kgs 6.17). In defying the laws of nature, such miracles were the ideal proof of Christianity's authenticity. They were acts that God alone could perform, and clearly visible to many people at once.

55 33 Image and Inscription Engraved matrix of Welsh text 2016

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  For the purposes of the composition, the factuality or otherwise of the phenomenon is irrelevant. The story is a visually striking encapsulation of the conflict between science and religion, the miraculous and the empirical. I challenged myself to represent the image sonically and to literally float a Bible, but with the aid of science and technology rather than divine intervention. In the mundane world, the Bible does float free from physical support when it is read aloud. The words are unanchored from the printed page and become audible vibrations or sound waves. In radio broadcasting, these sound waves are, by means of a microphone, converted into an electrical signal, encoded as modulated electromagnetic waves, and transmitted from a radio antenna. The waves are, in turn, received by another radio antenna, a tuner, an amplifier, and finally a demodulator that extracts the sound wave from the original signal so that it can once again float upon the air.

The compositions source material is a reading taken from the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611) that was broadcast by an American fundamentalist radio station. The same translation is used in Gideons Bibles brown cover, octavo versions of which are deposited by the organization in many motels rooms in the USA. The text for the composition is based upon the verso and recto (pages 1014 and 1015) of an edition of the Gideons Bible that would have been available at the time of the incident. The text with God all things are possible is printed on the recto. The reading begins at the top of the verso with the second part of Matthew chapter 19 and verse 3: him, Is it lawful for a man .... It ends at the bottom of the verso, at Matthew chapter 20 and verse 25: ... and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

The visible text consists of 1,285 words. A recording is made of each word. The scripture is then suspended temporally, rather that spatially (as it was in the motel room). The duration of each words sound is stretched to 7 minutes and 22 seconds (the time it took the radio broadcaster to read the entire text). All the words of each verse are heard at the same time.

56 34 Image and Inscription manipulation of 33-rpm disc 2016

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

words sound is stretched to 7 minutes and 22 seconds (the time it took the radio broadcaster to read the entire text). All the verses printed on the verso page and all those printed on the recto page can be heard independently, and also superimposed on one another in the final three tracks.

Personnel: Anonymous reader and John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition CS6, Apple MacBook Pro, Apple iMac OS X 10.8, and Avid Pro Tools 10. Source: Weekly World News (January 9, 1996), 15; Holy Bible (Nashville, Tennessee: Gideons International, 1986), 10145; The Family Radio Audio Bible Archives, public-access website, accessed February 2014.

Image and Inscription
Image and Inscription is a response to the narrative presented in Ex. 19.134.5 27. It relates the Israelites arrival at Mount Sinai amid thunder, lightning, darkness, and earthquakes; the establishment of Gods covenant with his people; his delivery of the Decalogue, laws and ordinances, and repeated prohibition against image making; the Israelites fashioning and idolatrous worship of the golden calf; their repentance and Gods punishment of the sin; Moses and the elders visions of, and encounter with, God; the patriarchs prolonged confrontation with him on the mount; and, finally, Moses radiant return to the people. The source material is made up of an engraving of an inscribed and a spoken biblical text, and an audio bitstream derived from two pictorial engravings illustrating the text.

57 35 Image and Inscription open-studio event Drwm, National Library of Wales
September 24-25, 2015

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

engagement with him on the mount; and, finally, Moses radiant return to the people. The source material is made up of engravings of an inscribed biblical text, a spoken version of the same, and an audio bitstream derived from two pictorial prints illustrating the account of Moses on Mount Sinai 28, 29.

The texts on which the artwork is based are derived from the principal clause of the second commandment, forbidding the making of graven images (Ex. 20.4). One of the texts is a translation taken from Bishop William Morgans (15451604) Welsh Bible (1588): Na wnait ddelw gerfiedic, na llun dim a'r [a sydd] yn y nefoedd oddi vchod, nac a'r y [sydd] yn y ddaiar oddi isod: nac a'r [y sydd] yn y dwfr odditann y ddaiar. The other is taken from the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611): Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. The term graven is an approximation of the Hebrew word pesel, which means to cut or to hew into shape. The English translation graven, as the translators of the Authorised Version understood it, is a fairly anodyne term that means engraved. This is the rendering that I have followed.

Two commercial plaque makers mechanically engraved the texts upon a metal matrix. The English translation was incised and recorded in 2010; the Welsh translation, on a different engraver, in 2015. (Two languages, two machines running at different speeds and making entirely dissimilar sounds, recorded five years apart 30, 31, 32, 33). The earlier engraver produced an aggressive, rasping sound, and a deep cut in the plate. The later machines sound is muted, soft, and organic, and its cut, in turn, more delicate in contrast. Both source recordings were

58 Th e Bi b l e i n T r a n s l a t i o n
36 Image and Inscription open-studio event Drwm, National Library of Wales
September 24-25, 2015  are slowed down by nearly 400%, thereby enlarging the original length of each to exactly twenty minutes duration. Here, the number 20 is symbolic, representing 2 10 (being, according to some traditions, the number of commandments inscribed by the finger of God on each of the two tables of the law (Ex. 31.18)). The stretched versions of the source were then modified through a network of synthesizer filters in order to generate tonal characteristics appropriate to the general mood of the text and its context which is one of threat, awe, and gloom.

The texts were also spoken: in Welsh, by a woman, and in English, by a man. A recording was made of both at the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, and subsequently transferred to two copies of a 33-rpm vinyl disc. These was produced, following the traditional mode of manufacture, by an intaglio process of incising a groove within which the sonic information is embedded into acetate, in the first instance. By this means, the spoken texts, too, were converted into engravings.

In the context of the open-studio event, the discs were manipulated on two DJ record player decks operating in parallel 34. The resultant sound was filtered through a series of samplers and digital and analogue filters, so that fragments of speech could be repeated, overlaid, and otherwise combined in ways that were not native to the recording, and their tonal qualities and volume, altered.

The process of conversion and composition governing the sound artwork took place, in situ, at an open studio event held at the Drwm, the National Library of Wales. The identity of the venue was not incidental. On April 23, 2013, the Librarys extension was damaged by fire. Fire and smoke are associated with the receiving of the Ten

59 37 Image and Inscription databent output from John Martins Moses Breaketh the Tables (1883) 2016

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  smoke are associated with the receiving of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19.1820.) Moreover, the Drwm is situated at a geographical centre for the Librarys main collections, which deal with texts, images, and sounds, respectively. Likewise, the artwork is a site of interchange, associating images (in absentia and under prohibition) with texts (the source material) and sounds (of the texts in sonic translation) 35, 36.

Mount Sinai was a noisy place when Moses made his several ascents. Thunder rumbled, and there was also the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud [that] ... sounded long, and waxed louder and louder (Ex. 19.1619). God permitted the people of Israel to listen in on his dialogue with Moses and to overhear Gods voice (which also must have been at a fearful volume) as he pronounced the words of the Decalogue (Ex. 19.9; 20.119). Thus, the Ten Commandments were, first, sounded out as an ephemeral speech act prior to becoming a text, one that would, in turn, become a permanent image inscribed on two stone tablets (Ex. 24.12). On the occasion of receiving the tablets, Moses remained on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the number 40 is associated with, among other things, times of trial, testing, and judgement (Gen. 7.12, Matt. 4.2). My decision to create the composition over twenty-four consecutive hours was in order to honour the idea of a personal and demanding trial, which Moses had endured.

The two pictorial engravings depicting Moses on Mount Sinai were, like the source texts, taken from a Welsh and an English version of the Bible: Bibl yr Addoliad Teuluaidd [n.d] and Imperial Family Bible (1844), both in the collection of The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. Digital renderings of the source images were converted into a bitstream, using a process called databending 37. In this way, the media file is made playable on sound-editing software. The resultant noise was manipulated to create material that could be incorporated into the compositions, along with the sounds derived from the metal matric and vinyl engravings.

60 38 The Family Bible Floats Through the Living Room 2010 02.40

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n 

resultant noise was manipulated, digitally, to create material that could be incorporated into the compositions, along with the sounds derived from the metal matric and vinyl engravings. In returning one of the Ten Commandments to the condition of sound (noise and speech), the composition reverses the process by which it first came into being, and evokes the acoustic character of the context of the Decalogues original reception.

Outline Scene 1 The Wilderness (Ex. 19.12) o The desert of Sinai. o The people are camped before the mount.

Scene 2 The Mountain (Ex. 19.36) o Moses ascends the mount to speak with God (Moses 1st ascent).
o God calls to Moses out of the mount. o God establishes a covenant between himself and his people.

Scene 3 The People (Ex. 19.78) o Moses returns from the mount and speaks to the people (Moses 1st descent). o The people pledge to uphold Gods covenant. o Moses returns their decision to God (Moses 2nd ascent).

4 A Thick Cloud (Exodus 19.9-14) God speaks to Moses. God commands Moses to sanctify the people, and issues warnings regarding the inviolability of the mounts perimeter. Moses conveys Gods words to the people, and prepares to sanctify them (Moses 2nd descent)

5 The Sanctification (Exodus 19.15) Moses speaks to the people and readies them for the third day.

61 39 Free Delivery (Deliverance) End- Time Deliverance Ministry: Audio
Prayer (Bloodmidi) 2016 01.46

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Scene 4: A Thick Cloud (Ex. 19.914) o God speaks to Moses. o God commands Moses to sanctify the people, and issues warnings regarding the inviolability of the mounts perimeter. o Moses conveys Gods words to the people, and prepares to sanctify them (Moses 2nd descent)

Scene 5: The Sanctification (Ex. 19.15) o Moses speaks to the people and readies them for the third day.

Scene 6: The Third Day (Ex. 19.1625) o The people witness thunder, quakes, lightning, thick cloud, and smoke upon the mount. o They approach the mounts perimeter.
o A trumpet sounds long and progressively louder. o God comes down upon the mount in fire (Gods 1st descent). o Moses ascends the mount to speak with God (Moses 3rd ascent).
o God speaks to Moses. o Moses returns and speaks to the people (Moses 3rd descent).

Scene 7: The Decalogue (Ex. 20.120) o God declares the Ten Commandments. o The people witness thunders, lightning, and thick darkness upon the mount, and hear a trumpets sound. o They fear Gods voice.

62 Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
40 Free Delivery (Deliverance) End- Time Deliverance Ministry: Youd Better Not Listen to Him (If You Know Whats Good for You) 2016 01.40  Scene 8: The Two Visions; The Two Tablets (Ex. 20.2132.15) o Moses draws near to the thick darkness, where God resides (Moses 4th ascent). God speaks to Moses and restates his prohibition on image making and idolatry.
o He instructs Moses to set up of an altar to him on earth, and issues divers laws and ordinances to govern the peoples behaviour, as well as a further prohibition on image making. o Moses returns to the people, recounts to them what God has decreed, and writes it down in a book (Moses 4th descent).
o The people make a peace offering to God. o Moses reads, and the people reaffirm, the covenant. o Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders ascend the mount to God (Moses 5th ascent (stage 1)).
o They have a vision of God and clear sapphire stone. o God promises to give Moses two stone tablets with the commandments written upon them. o Moses and Joshua go further up into the mount (Moses 5th ascent (stage 2)).
o Cloud covers the mount for six days. o God calls out of the cloud to Moses, while the people see Gods glory like a devouring fire. o God describes the design of the Tabernacle and its appurtenances, gives instructions regarding the consecration of the priests, and inaugurates a Sabbath observance. o He presents two stone tablets to Moses, with the commandments written upon them.

9 The Golden Calf (32.1- 20) The people, perceiving Mosess delay on the mount, fashion from molten gold earrings an idol representing a calf. They make a peace offering to it, and hold a feast. God tells Moses about the peoples idolatry and threatens to destroy them. Moses remonstrates with God and urges him to repent of his intent. Moses and Joshua return to the people (Moses 5th descent).

63 41 Free Delivery (Deliverance) End- Time Deliverance Ministry: Weaknesses, Sicknesses, Diseases (Of All Kinds) 2016 02.37

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Scene 9: The Golden Calf (Ex. 32.120) o The people, perceiving Mosess delay on the mount, fashion from molten gold earrings an idol representing a calf. o They make a peace offering to it, and hold a feast. o God tells Moses about the peoples idolatry and threatens to destroy them. o Moses remonstrates with God and urges him to repent of his intent. o Moses and Joshua return to the people (Moses 5th descent).
o Joshua hears them shouting; they sound like a noise of war in the camp.
o Moses and Joshua approach the camp, hear the people singing, witness them dancing, and also see the golden calf. o In anger, Moses breaks the tablets and burns the calf.

Scene 10: The Forty Days and Nights (Ex. 32.2134.29) o Aaron tries to excuse the peoples sin. o The sons of Levi are told to slay the idolaters. o Moses ascends the mount to speak with God (Moses 6th ascent).
o He laments the peoples sin, and beseeches God not to destroy them entirely. o God determines to send an angel before the people to punish them. o Moses returns Gods judgement to the people (6th descent).
o The people repent.
o God issues a warning against the people. o Moses pitches the Tabernacle outside the camp.

64 Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
42 Free Delivery (Deliverance) End- Time Deliverance Ministry: Le Petit Exorcisme (Release) 2016 01.01

 o A cloudy pillar descends to the door of Tabernacle, where God speaks to Moses (Gods 2nd descent).
o Moses appeals for Gods grace and a sign of his favour.
o In response, God promises to reveal his glory to Moses. o God commissions Moses to hew two new stone tablets to replace those that he had broken. o Moses ascends the mount to speak with God (Moses 7th ascent).
o God descends to Moses (Gods 3rd descent).
o He passes before Moses, and renews his covenant with the people. o God warns the people not to compromise with their enemies, and commands them to destroy their idols and shrines while restating once more the prohibition on image making. o He issues various regulations and observances. o Moses writes the words of the covenant on the new tablets. o His face shines as a result of a forty-day and night confrontation with God. o He returns to the people with the new tablets (Moses 7th descent).

Scene 11: The Face of Moses Shines (Ex. 34.2934.45) o The people see that the skin of Moses face shines, and are afraid. o Moses recounts Gods commandments to them. o Moses veils his face when speaking to the people, and removes the veil when talking with God.

65 43 The Conversion of St Paul:
Sample 1/Permutation 1 2011 04.12

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Personnel: Timothy Cutts, John Harvey, and Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan Instrumentation: Adobe Audition CS6, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Allen & Heath Xone:23C mixer, Apple MacBook Pro, Apple iMac OS X 10.11, Korg Kaoss Pad KP3 and Kaoss Pad Quad, metal matrix engravers, Moog MF-101 Low Pass Filter, Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator, Moog MF-103 12-Stage Phaser, Moog MF-104M Analog Delay, Moog MF-105 Midi Murf, Moog MF-108M Cluster Flux, Roland SP-404 SX Linear Wave Sampler unit, Sherman Filterbank 2 filter unit, Sherman/Rodec Restyler filter unit, and Stanton S-150 record turntable. Source: The metal matrix engravings of the text were made at Aberystwyth Trophies and Merlins Services, Aberystwyth, March 13, 2010, and April 20, 2015, respectively. The readings of Exodus 20.4, by Timothy Cutts and Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, were recorded at the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, June 22, 2015. An audio manipulation of those recordings was undertaken during a 24-hour open-studio event held at the Drwm, The National Library of Wales, September 2425, 2015.

66 Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
44 The Conversion of St Paul:
Sample 4/Permutation 4 2011 04.12

 The Aural Bible II: The Bible in Translation (Bonus Material)

uction: The Pictorial Bible
The Family Bible Floats Through the Living Room The piece responds to an article in the Eugene Register-Guard newspaper about a haunting that took place at a farmer's house in Mena, Arkansas in 1961. The Shinn family were harassed for more than a year by the sound of howling and hissing, a disembodied voice that responded to questions, and poltergeist activity. The ghost (who could not be seen) disrupted their sleep, threw figurines against the head of the husband (who is shown with his grandson in the track- cover photograph), and violently moved furniture. But the most unusual manifestation of its antics, the Shinns reported, was that the family Bible floats through the living room 38.

Personnel: John Harvey. Instrumentation: Adobe Audition 3.0, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Boomerang III phrase sampler (two connected in parallel), Carl Martin 2-Wah pedal, Digitech Hardwire DL-8 delay/looper (two connected in series), Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi fuzz pedal, Ernie Ball volume pedal, George Dennis Pan/Volume pedal, and Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar. Context: Improvisation recorded live at an audiovisual installation entitled Here Everything is Still Floating, held at the School of Art Gallery, Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK, March 6, 2010.

eries

67 45 The Name Day of St Anne: First Trimester 2011 03.18

Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n  Free Delivery (Deliverance) End-Time Deliverance Ministry The composition reflects upon aspects of an American fundamentalist deliverance ministry. The ministry is predicated upon the unorthodox belief that Christians can be inhabited by demons. The evil spirits manifest themselves in the form of physical and mental illness, spiritual and emotional afflictions, addictions and phobias, delinquency, inappropriate dispositions and attitudes, the bad fruit of ancestral iniquities passed down from one generation to another, and the inhabitation of electronic equipment.

Deliverance is achieved chiefly through prayers, spoken aloud either in English or tongues (glossolalia) that entreat the demon to depart. The vindictive and recalcitrant entity is heard to resist eviction and, through the mouth of its host, to remonstrate angrily with the deliverer with screams and invectives before being cast out.

Audio Prayer (Bloodmidi) The music is extracted from a midi keyboard rendering (taken from the End-Time Deliverance Ministry website) of the first two lines of the hymn O, the Blood of Jesus, which have been slowed down considerably. The melody is in reverse contrapunctual motion: that is to say, it is arranged as a counterpoint that involves a backwards version of the extract being superimposed upon the forward movement of the same. The same music serves as the background to Come on Out (Sealed Emotion), on The Bible in Translation CD 39.

68 Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
46 The Name Day of St Anne: Second Trimester 2011 06.15  Youd Better Not Listen to Him (If You Know Whats Good for You) In this composition, the first line of O, the Blood of Jesus (a hymn sung in the context of a exorcism that, it is supposed, evil spirits cannot bear to hear) provides the background music for the composition. The melodic line is in retrograde contrapunctual motion: that is to say, it is arranged as a counterpoint that involves a backwards version of the extract being superimposed upon the forward movement of the same. Two noncompliant demons, speaking through two young women, caution other entities against heeding the deliverers commands and remonstrate about the music 40.

Lyrics Deliverer: The demons hate to listen to this thing. Demoniac 1: Youd better not listen to him, if you know whats good for you. Better not listen to him, if you know whats good for you. I dont have to listen to you. I dont have to listen to you! Im not listening to you and that stupid song. Demoniac 2: Shut that song off! I hate that song! Turn it off; I hate it! Ahhhhh .... ! Turn it off! Turn it off! Noooooo .... ! No! I dont believe it! Turn it off! Off!

Weaknesses, Sicknesses, Diseases (Of All Kinds) The composition, once again, begins with the first line of O, the Blood of Jesus. Thereafter, each syllable of the second line is sung and looped to create a sustained chord comprising all the syllables sung simultaneously

69 Th e B i b l e i n Tr a n s l a t i o n
47 The Name Day of St Anne: Third Trimester 2011 09.14  of them sung simultaneously. The spine of the composition is a litany of various physical ailments and distempers related to diseases of the heart and circulatory system, spoken by a deliverer on a Christian radio broadcast. He is attempting to exorcise his audience of their malign influence. Interspersed with this recitation, another deliverer provides a chorus pronouncing broad categories of disorder 40.

Lyrics Deliverer 1: Heart attack, heart failure, heart care, cardiac shock, cardiac arrest. Come out, in the name of Jesus!
Deliverer 2: Diseases, infirmities, weaknesses, sicknesses. D1: Thrombosis, cardiac thrombosis, coronary thrombosis. Come out, in the name of Jesus!
D2: Weaknesses, sicknesses, diseases of all kinds. D1: Atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, hardening of the artery, armoured heart. Come out, in Jesus name!
D2: Weakness, sickness, and so forth; weakness, sickness, and so forth. D1: Fat or fatty heart, (...), Come out, in the name of Jesus! D2: Weaknesses, sicknesses, diseases of all kinds. D1: Fibroid heart, blast-shaped heart, frosted heart. Come out, in Jesus name!
D2: I want all these debilitating diseases. D1: [...], tiger, tiger lily heart. Come out, in the name of Jesus!
D2: Diseases, infirmities, weaknesses, sicknesses. D1: (...), core vallecula, (...). Come out, in the name of Jesus!
D2: Weakness, sickness, and so forth. D1: (...), (...). Come out, in the name of Jesus!
D2: Diseases, infirmities, weaknesses, sicknesses. D1: Hypertension, high blood pressure, systolic hypertension, diastolic hypertension. Come out in the name of Jesus!
D2: I want all these debilitating diseases. D1: Stroke, paralytic stroke, arterial aneurysm. Come out now in the name of Jesus!

70 48 John Harvey Lecture: Evan Roberts: A Waxwork R

---

Extracted text from http://johnharvey.org.uk:

Menu The Pictorial Bible III & The Aural Bible II: The Bible in Translation

The Pictorial Bible series explores ways in which biblical texts can be visualized without recourse to figuration or illustration, within a non-iconic framework of religious art. The series represents a coming together of two faculties (believing and seeing); two cultures (the bible and visuality); and two disciplines (biblical studies and art practice). Within the network of these interactions, the works are concerned with visualizing biblical texts with reference to a tradition espoused by Judaism and aniconic sensibilities within Christianity that is predicated upon the illegitimacy of pictorializing spiritual concepts and scriptural stories and events.

The Bible in Translation is the third project in The Pictorial Bible series (following Settings of the Psalms (2000) and Seal up the Vision and Prophecy (2007)), and the second project in The Aural Bible series (following R R B V E T N O A (2015)). The exhibition investigates ways in which texts from, commentaries upon, and cultural articulations of, the Judaeo-Christian bible can be transformed into visual and sonic images. The printed, spoken, and heard word is subjected to a hermeneutical process that deploys systems of codification, excision, and redaction, and techniques of collage, superimposition, and abstraction. By these means, the source material yields significances, connections, and resonances that are not ordinarily evident.

The Opening Night, School of Art Gallery, Aberystwyth University, 13 February 2015.

List of works:

Prevenient: My Mothers New Testament (1936/1965/2014) Image & Superscription: Matthew (2012/14) Image & Superscription: Mark (2012/14) Image & Superscription: Luke (2012/14) Image & Superscription: John (2012/14) Bible Studies: God/Word (2013) Bible Studies: Begat/Jesus (2013) Bible Studies: Line Upon Line, Line Upon Line (2014) Bible Studies: Rivers (2013) Bible Studies: Justified (Sins Removed) (2013) Bible Studies: Justified (Removed Sins) (2013) Bible Studies: Lamentations (2007) A Wordless Gospel (2014) Preaching = Painting (2014) Large Letters (2014) Sindebt (Cheirographon) (2014) Trust in Thy Word (2014) YHWH (Tetragrammaton) (2014) Intercessions (2011/2014) The Floating Bible: Miracle of the Risen Word (2014) [54-part visual image] The Floating Bible: Miracle of the Risen Word (2014) [54-part sonic image] Chi Rho (Christogram) (2014) Painted With Vermilion (2015)

exhibition installation, 16 February 20 March 2015

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Notify me of new posts by email.