‘Light’ Neville Street: A case study of sound and light

‘Light’ Neville Street is a case study for the inventive sensory design of our city spaces with a focus on sound, acoustics and listener subjectivities and with the artist as early stage collaborator. The project offers conceptual challenges to discourses that assume the dominance of the visual and the sculptural object as the conventional norm for public art. ‘Light’ Neville Street was a unique technology based public artwork integrated within the design of the 100-m tunnel entrance into the city of Leeds. For over a decade, the interplay of sound and light transformed the gateway as the inhospitable and aurally confusing environment into an immersive urban landscape for its 19,000 daily users on foot and by car. Presented from my perspective as the cultural producer on the design team, the article provides an overview of context, policy framework and media response with anecdotal reflections from artists and design team members.