We Beat the Bounds 2017
We Beat The Bounds was commissioned by Tate St Ives to celebrate the opening of their new gallery.
The boundary lines of Tate St Ives have been doubled by the new gallery and learning spaces. For the opening day, October 14th 2017, Reynolds devised a performance with two local choirs that draws on the ancient ceremony of ‘beating the bounds.’ This tradition takes the form of a parade around the edge of a legal boundary, such as a village or common land, beating it with a willow wand. Practised in the UK since Anglo Saxon times, its purpose is to mark areas of belonging, and bring fertility to the fields.
In Reynolds’ performance, the two choirs traced the full extent of the new bounds of the Tate in the morning, afternoon and evening. As their mirror-tipped wands reflect the gallery spaces, and their voices and sticks resound the galleries the sung score composed by Gareth Churcher is also mirrored. Sung in a round, the notes are inverted horizontally and vertically through successive bars.