The Drumbest Horns

26 Treasures was an exhibition at London's V&A Museum by the folks behind 26.org - a resource for writers, and the clients who need their help. Their idea was to pair-up an object from the museum with a writer at random and see what creative sparks would happen as a result. Now 26 has expanded their reach to locations outside London and their vision to encompass the visual artist.

26 designers and 26 writers were paired at random before the Ulster Museum provided an object from their permanent collection to discuss, decode or represent with new work. We have been matched with local philosopher, poet and champion of creativity Alistair Fee and our object is an amazing pair of bronze age horns unearthed from a peat bog in Drumbest, Ballymoney.

The first thing that struck us was the age of the horns, dating from Ireland's Late Bronze Age (1200 B.C. - 200 B.C.). They are so ancient that nobody can be 100% sure what they were used for or what they represented. Even in their museum home, printed descriptions are littered with general qualifier words like "probably", "might" and "believed". Ideas vary, while some historians are convinced that the instruments were indeed played, ceremonial horns that sounded "hauntingly full" others have checked the musical scales and realised that they would not sound right if played together so believe their purpose was purely for a display of power. Some think they are inspired by Scandinavian horns while others link them all the way to ancient Egypt. This uncertainty was what stayed with us throughout the process, hindering our early confidence in what we were representing, and causing many complete changes of direction.

Click below to listen to a recording or the Drumbest Horns from the Ulster Museum, recorded in 1994 by Simon O’Dwyer

This recording is part of an album called 'Coirn na hÉireann - Horns of Ancient Ireland'

In the end we fell on the idea that the only things we could be sure of were:

• The horns were uncovered in Drumbest.
• They would have been valuable objects no matter what they were used for.

Our final piece has two jobs. One job is to a performance object, where was ask the public to uncover what's hidden underneath by carefully scraping away at the ink. We see this as replicating the act of the find, bring the viewer closer to the horns. The other is to be a visual representation of the horns themselves. We have chosen to use their silhouette to create a complex "soundwave" form around the dramatic face of a bull. The bull is our nod to the symbolic significance of owning huge bronze horns, a display of power and status even today as they nestle pride-of-place in the Ulster Museum. At the time, Ireland's people were becoming farmers, and their most valuable trade would have been in livestock.

It's ultimately up to the viewer to decide on what the Drumbest Horns were for, continuing the pattern which may never be unequivocally answered.

Born to deliver sound
All tones and moods
Joy, sorrow, warnings and news
News of birth, death, war, harvest,
rain, hope, despair
Trumpeting my master’s bidding.
Borne on the wind I share
my news with all who listen
I command you; listen and respond
Reverberating with joy.
Sonorously and gloomily
I weep for the fallen
Listen to me, simply listen.