'Listen - it's the sound of a new art': An analysis of a pioneering programme of sound art commissioning in Leeds 2003-13

This research programme focuses on a pivotal moment (2003-13) in the re-definition of the medium of sound and the act of listening as a mode of reception within interdisciplinary practices related to artistic programming, the design of urban public space, environmental policy and the making of place.

Emerging simultaneously at that time, sound art found its form through a pioneering series of exhibitions in major gallery settings with resulting media and sector provocations. In parallel, EU legislation was the lever for the first UK environmental policy framework on ambient sound, noise and positive soundscaping. This broad dynamic created the setting and stimuli for a unique set of interdisciplinary collaborations where sound and the mode of listening became the aural 'lens' to perceive urban architectural space as an immersive audial experience.

This study uses selected MAAP projects as primary materials for research to explore the formal and informal relationships, motivations and characteristics of partner organisations, design teams (including commissioned artists) and commissioning bodies that enabled and foregrounded these artworks. The research seeks to challenge norms, orthodoxies and traditional notions of public art as physical objects and emphasises the importance of sound in shaping our urban environments.

It seeks to examine listening as an active mode of our reception of our urban environments and considers the subjective nature of sound (noise v. positive soundscapes).

By mapping institutional behaviours and adopting collaborative research techniques, curated events will produce qualitative data whilst mobilising and re-affirming interdisciplinary actions that can enhance the sonic and aural soundscape of our cities in the present day and help us 'listen afresh'.

The research is situated within an analysis of a series of commissioned public art works that pioneered the inclusion of sound art in public locations in Leeds, Yorkshire (2003-13) by the cultural producer Sue Ball/MAAP. These projects are widely acknowledged for their national significance and impact within 'sensory' urban design practices (Section 4 Literature Review, Primary Research).

This research gives significant weight to the decommissioning of a permanent sculptural work The Light and Sound Transit by the artist Hans Peter Kuhn, launched in 2009 in Leeds and 'switched off' in 2023, being one of only a handful of public artworks in the world that comprise sound. A partnership with Henry Moore Institute offers this research process opportunities for wider engagement and participation, and tangible legacies.

This research provides a new contribution to knowledge by examining and working with the processes of 'live' archiving a nationally significant non-object based public artwork (Light Neville Street/Light and Sound Transit) with the Henry Moore Institute.This research draws on an extensive body of primary research materials from MAAP's portfolio (articles, media reviews, technical and project resources) and unpublished findings from participative events and action research programmes of that time.

This research adds to new knowledge to the following disciplines: -Visual Arts, Sonic Art and Curation. Public Art (commissioning, de-commissioning and archiving)

-Gallery and Museum Studies; the curation of non-object based public art (temporary and permanent works) in relation to discourse on public art artworks and their publics. Archival processes to consolidate the canon of public art to include digital works -Social, human and urban geography; public art as process; city as process

-Urban design and social design practices, and environmental policy on noise