Documented artwork / interactive musical railing sculpture
Charlestown Bells
Credit as documented: Paul Matisse
Paul Matisse's Charlestown Bells makes a pedestrian railing into an instrument played in passing. Commissioned by the Metropolitan District Commission, the 2000 work is located near Revere Park on the walkway between Charlestown and Boston. Thirty tubular bells are distributed along the railing, with a separate striker and operating handle beside each one. Pedestrians produce the sounds themselves by pushing those handles as they move along the installation, connecting ordinary walking with a sequence of individual musical actions.
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At a glance
- Year / version
- 2000
- Materials
- aluminum, stainless steel
- Documented setting
- outdoor
- Dimensions
- 77 × 5 feet; thirty tubes, 3 inches in diameter and 4–8 feet long.
- Dimensions apply to
- Overall two-number notation has unlabeled axes; tube lengths and diameters describe individual components.
- Availability
- Unconfirmed
Places & versions
Installation history
Historical presentations. A past installation does not establish the current location or suitability for a new site.
2000
Pedestrian walkway between Charlestown and Boston, near Revere Park, Massachusetts
- Site
- Pedestrian walkway between Charlestown and Boston, near Revere Park
- City
- Boston
- State / region
- MA
- Country
- United States (inferred; not independently confirmed)
- Commissioner
- Metropolitan District Commission
Installation details checked 2026-10-17.
Materials and construction
The artist lists aluminum and stainless steel. Each tube is three inches in diameter, with lengths varying from four to eight feet. The separate seventy-seven-by-five-foot overall notation is retained without assigning axes that the source does not label.
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Sources
- www.paulmatisse.com ↗ · Checked 2026-10-16
- www.paulmatisse.com ↗ · Checked 2026-10-17