The City Speaks, a major new commission for HULL 2017, functions as a 21st century Speakers’ Corner in which open-air public speaking takes on epic proportions as spoken words are translated to text and relayed on one of the towers supporting Hull’s tidal barrier.
A steel lectern located on the quayside of Humber Dock offers a platform for members of the public to broadcast their thoughts and feelings. A hidden microphone captures their words and sends them to a data processing cloud which transcribes the phases into a scrolling dot-matrix text ascending the tidal barrier. The plinth and the tidal barrier perfectly align at each end of Humber Street, allowing the speaker to see their own speech being emitted across Hull, not though the digital screens of telephones, tablets and computers, but as an embodiment of the Hull’s architecture itself.
The Hull surge tidal barrier plays a significant role in protecting Hull from flooding, as climate change increases the number of extremely high tides. Since its construction in 1980 it has saved over a 100,000 homes. In many ways this barrier has become the gateway guarding the future of Hull, replacing Beverley Gate where, in 1642, Sir John Hotham refused Charles I entry to the city, an act of defiance widely acknowledged as the spark that ignited the English Civil War.
These principles of resistance and protection lie at the core of The City Speaks. This installation gives voice to the diverse range of ideas and opinions expressed by the people of Hull and in doing so celebrates the intellectual and political resilience of the Hullensians.
For general information about Hull UK City of Culture 2017, please contact;
Ben McKnight – ben.mcknight@hull2017.co.uk / 07718 100 793.
The City Speaks plinth is located on the intersection of Humber Dock Street and Humber Street, Hull.