Light Neville Street
‘Light’ Neville Street was the ambitious transformation of a major gateway into Leeds, incorporating art and engineering, launched in 2009.
Embedded within a specially constructed, 100-meter-long environment was a new commission of contemporary public sculpture, A Light and Sound Transit, by Hans Peter Kuhn. Notable for its substantial incorporation of sound as a central component, the work engaged audiences in ways that a sculptural object could not.
For over a decade, the interplay of light and sound transformed the gateway tunnel into an immersive urban landscape for its 19,000 daily users. It was decommissioned in 2022 due to an extensive redevelopment of Leeds Railway Station.
The archive is in the process of accessioning material related to this project, including early sketches, design proposals and technical documentation.
360-degree film
Experience A Light and Sound Transit as it was originally presented in this 360-degree film.
If you’re watching in the YouTube app on a mobile device, you can move it around to experience the artwork from every angle. On desktop, click and drag to move around the scene.
Better yet, make a visit the archive where you can try out a VR headset and fully immerse yourself in the environment of ‘Light’ Neville Street.
Video credit: composer Hans Peter Kuhn, videographer Andrew Abbott, sound technician Stuart Bannister. Commission by MAAP in partnership with Leeds City Council and Henry Moore Institute.
About the project
Background
Neville Street, a pivotal entry point into Leeds, was described as one of the darkest, noisiest and most inhospitable places in the city. Problems included the major flow of pedestrians in close proximity with slow-moving vehicles, coupled with the oppressive sounds of overhead trains.
Leeds City Council’s strategic planners sought an innovative design solution for this environmentally complex site. The re-development of the gateway was also prioritised to create stronger links between the flourishing economic city centre and the regeneration of areas to the south, including the communities of Holbeck and Beeston.
The regenerated ‘Light’ Neville Street was a coming-together of collaborative, experimental and innovative ideas that crossed architecture, art, lighting and acoustics. From the outset, the project included artists conversant with light, sound and technology.
A Light and Sound Transit
A Light and Sound Transit was the work of internationally renowned artist Hans Peter Kuhn, made for the East Wall of the tunnel. Computer controlled and comprised of 3200 LED lights that spanned the length of the tunnel, it would generate a new abstract artwork of light each day.
Seamlessly interwoven with the varying noise levels of vehicles and trains, sonic compositions were randomly selected from 96 eight-track sound works and played through a customed-design PA system mounted on the overhead canopies.
Kuhn’s work created both a calmer acoustic environment and an immersive auditory and visual journey for each passer-by.
New Icons of the North
A Light and Sound Transit is one of six iconic public sculptures from the ‘Welcome to the North’ public art programme, launched between 2007-10. Other projects included Antony Gormley’s Another Place on Crosby Beach, and Richard Wilson’s Turning the Place Over.
Referred to as ‘New Icons of the North’, these sculptures were funded through a £100 million growth initiative by the Labour Government, designed to close the economic gap between England’s post-industrial north and the rest of the country. It was the largest public art scheme of its day in relation to public sector spending.
The project was commissioned by Leeds City Council, with funding from Yorkshire Forward, Gateway to the North and Network Rail.
Decommissioning and legacy
In 2021, consultation began on the future of the artworks, owing to the extensive redevelopment planned for Leeds City Station.
A Light and Sound Transit continues to hold international significance in helping reshape what public sculpture can be, from a static physical form to one that embraces technology and the immersive.
‘Light’ Neville Street remains a valued case study in collaborative design excellence. It demonstrates how our public spaces can spark curiosity by engaging all of our senses.
BBC Front Row
Geoff Bird reported on the opening of Light Neville Street for BBC Front Row, on 23 October 2009, to find out whether the city’s pedestrians appreciated the change.
Listen online to the episode of Front Row here. The segment on Light Neville Street starts at 21:25.
“It is lines of light, very close, like a chain of pearls. So very simple. It changes in the very early morning at four o’clock when there’s very few people on the road, and so every day you see a different pattern.”
Hans Peter Kuhn, BBC Front Row, 23 October 2009
More about the Archive
Watch this film to hear from Errin Hussey, Archivist and Sue Ball, Producer, MAAP as they introduce the project and show what you can see if you visit the collection in the Archive.
About the artists, designers and organisers
The refurbished passageway comprised two permanent artworks by Hans Peter Kuhn and Andrew Edwards.
Bauman Lyons Architects provided overall design vision and co-ordination, with specialist technical and engineering input by Arup. Sue Ball, Media and Arts Partnership (MAAP) was arts producer for the project and its subsequent decommissioning.
Hans Peter Kuhn
A Light and Sound Transit
Hans Peter Kuhn is a Berlin based sound sculptor/installation artist and composer. He was invited into the project by Sue Ball (MAAP) in the R&D and planning phase in 2004.
A Light and Sound Transit offers an example of cutting-edge, contemporary public art as non-object based immersive sculpture. It is one of only a handful of public sculptural works in the world that comprise sound, and one of even fewer that engage computing technologies.
Kuhn’s work draws from his artistic research into sound and light, which is fully embodied in his international portfolio of large-scale outdoor works, exhibitions and performance. He has worked extensively with the theatrical revolutionary, Robert Wilson, and together they won the prestigious ‘Golden Lion’ award at the 1993 Venice Biennale for their installation Memory/Loss.
Since 2012, Kuhn has been guest professor in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, Germany.
Andrew Edwards
Counter Flow
Working on the opposite west wall, Edwards’ work utilises two overlapping aluminium sheets, each punctuated with thousands of tiny holes, to create a moiré pattern. As viewers traverse the length of Neville Street, this results in a shimmering effect which he says ‘looks like mackerel skin’.
“The graphic is perforated into the back panel, and the front panel has a very standard perforated aluminium sheet. But as you walk past them, they’re animated and activated by something moiree, which is like a visual dissonance of dots. It’s almost like a liquefied, fish scale effect… this quite deliberate movement that’s only activated as you pass it.”
Andrew Edwards, BBC Front Row, 23 October 2009
Bauman Lyons
Bauman Lyons Architects provided overall design vision and co-ordination.
Sue Ball
Artist liaison was handled by Sue Ball, Director of Media and Arts Partnership (MAAP).
MAAP also ran a cultural and interpretative programme in parallel to the design process, which engaged the participation of school children, artists and the public in ‘listening afresh’ to the city and their neighbourhoods.
What’s in the collection?
Since August 2022, the archive has been undertaking a ‘live’ archiving of the process of decommissioning this significant public artwork. This task is currently ongoing, and is being supported by the University of Leeds and the project producers, MAAP.
A broad sweep of project, artistic, design and technical documentation relating to ‘Light’ Neville Street are being accessioned, and will be available for future consultation in the archive.
Most of the time, collections of archival material come to us after an artist’s death. It is rare that we are able to speak to the people directly involved in making the art, and unpacking an archive usually takes more than a little detective work.
‘Light’ Neville Street presents us with a novel opportunity, where we can talk to the original artists and producers as we start the process of cataloguing this important collection.
It is our hope that these discussions will uncover otherwise hidden facets of the project, encourage new thinking about public sculpture, and serve as a discursive entry-point for current and future researchers.
Stories from the archive
We’ll be sharing stories of the most interesting items as they enter the collections, so make sure to check back for regular updates.
Visiting the Archive of Sculptors’ Papers
The archive is free to use, but visits must be booked in advance so that we can get items ready for viewing.
Visits can be booked Tuesday to Friday, 10:00–17:00.
Book a visit
Getting here
Henry Moore Institute
The Henry Moore Institute is currently closed for refurbishment until summer 2024.
74 The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AH
United Kingdom
T: 01132 467 467
E: reception@henry-moore.org
