The City Speaks

The City Speaks serves as a modern-day Speakers’ Corner, transforming open-air public discourse into a grand spectacle. Spoken words are translated into text and displayed on one of the towers supporting Hull’s tidal barrier. A steel lectern positioned on the quayside of Humber Dock provides a stage for individuals to share their thoughts and emotions. A concealed microphone captures their speech and transmits it to a data processing cloud, which transcribes the phrases into scrolling dot-matrix text that ascends the tidal barrier. The alignment of the plinth with the tidal barrier allows speakers to witness their words being projected across Hull, creating an engaging and interactive experience that amplifies community voices.

Commission by Hull City of Culture