Elaine Mitchener presents Metal Mark Time, a newly commissioned vocal performance based on the artist’s personal connections to Tower Hamlets, and inspired by the tuning of cast metal bells from The Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Globally renowned for casting some of history’s most famous bells, including the Liberty Bell and Big Ben, the foundry was Britain’s oldest manufacturing company, operating for over four centuries before its closure in 2017. The performance is informed by Mitchener’s research undertaken in the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives and follows previous vocal projects including Sweet Tooth (2020) and Solo Throat (2024).

This event is the third in a public programme series curated by researcher, writer and sound practitioner Syma Tariq. Full programme listings can be found on our website.

Elaine Mitchener is a British Afro-Caribbean vocalist, movement artist and composer working between contemporary/experimental new music, free improvisation and visual art. She is currently a Wigmore Hall Associate Artist, an Artist Associate with ENSEMBLE KLANG and a NEEDCompany Fellow. Elaine was a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow (2022), an exhibiting artist in the British Art Show 9 (2021-22) and in 2020 a selected artist for the Rauschenberg Residency. In February 2022 Mitchener was awarded an MBE for Services to Music.

Her debut album SOLO THROAT was released in May 2024 under Café Oto’s OTORUKO label. As a guest curator Elaine developed and presented Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery’s Deep Time Festival (Basquiat&Cage 8424) and Politics of the Voice for Courtisane Festival (Ghent, Belgium).