2015 - 2016

VoiceOver was an urban scale communication infrastructure that forms a chain of interactive light and sound that everyone can listen in on, and whose spectacular luminescent path depends on residents that choose to host a network node.

VoiceOver was a participatory audio-visual communication infrastructure, designed and deployed by Umbrellium in collaboration with local residents and organisations. People that host part of the mesh network install a Light Antenna (attached to windows on the outside of their homes) that lights up as voices pass down the street, and a Radio Box inside on the windowsill to listen in to what people are saying and performing at VoiceOver Stations that link up surrounding public urban spaces.

As sound passes up and down the streets and weaves throughout a town, each fragment lights up in response to the different voices and sounds passing through it, making explicit the lines of communication, and connecting together people who, in many cases, were never connected to each other before. VoiceOver gave neighbours who have never spoken to each other before an excuse to talk, ask questions and share stories.

In April 2016 Voiceover took over Roseby Road in Horden and connected the community along a single street.