NEST

Over the road from the Titanic building and underneath an enormous yellow crane, 1500 donated objects are laid out across the concrete floor of a huge warehouse. In the main they are everyday objects, but each one is special: they are mementos from thousands of lives in Northern Ireland. Each has its own story, written by the donor on a small magnolia label attached by string.

The long rows of objects lead to the far end of the building where sits the 100 piece Ulster Youth Orchestra and a community choir, 200 strong. A note sounds, Brian Irvine raises his hands and the performance begins. It's the opening of a new oratorio and art installation, part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

The orchestra play beautifully, exuberantly then wildly: the choir sing movingly then stamp their feet, chunter in unison and eventually howl like dogs. All the pieces are inspired by the donated objects and their stories: such as 'a mermaid with a mechanical tail' and 'two penguins and a snowman'.

They form a grand sound-scape that reverberates throughout this industrial cathedral. A tribute to memory and everyday things in a site replete with its own history of manufacture and loss. The oratorio closes with all performers ringing bells and one by one slowly leaving the stage, until silence once again reigns.

John Donne's powerful meditation on his life-threatening illness came to mind, where he speaks of interconnectedness. And then its later transposition by Hemingway to his novel of the Spanish Civil War. Such resonances are strongly present, from so many mementos of the twists and turns in everyday life to the recent bitter conflict here.

'Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'