Perspectives on Public Art: Being Human 2021

Join expert guides as they take you on a trip around the University of Leeds Public Art trail

The University of Leeds campus is home to an extensive range of stunning public sculptures. In five short recordings we look at some of those sculptures from different perspectives. During this journey we discover the hidden lives of these artworks, hear what audiences think about them and explore how people interact with them.

Your guides are Layla Bloom, Curator of the University of Leeds Art Collection, and Pietro Bellomo, whose research studies the impact of public art on people’s lives.

In this audio adventure you will see the art on campus in a new light, where key questions around artist intent, how much can a viewer interact with public art, and the importance of public art location are raised.

Listen to the five short Perspectives on Public Art audio guides on Soundcloud

Download the transcription of the guides (DOCX)

What will you discover? Take a walk around the sculptures and join the conversation on social media, tagging us in @LULGalleries, and #BeingHuman2021

The artworks discussed are:

Hermes/The Spirit of Enterprise – William Chattaway, 1958 (5 minutes 59 seconds)

Levitating Figure – Quentin Bell, 1982 (6 minutes 30 seconds)

A Spire – Simon Fujiwara, 2015 (4 minutes 29 seconds)

Sign for Art – Keith Wilson, 2014 (6 minutes14 seconds)

Walking Figure – William Chattaway, 1989 recast of 1968 original (6 minutes 36 seconds)

Being Human Festival 2021

These activities are part of the Being Human Festival, the UK’s only national festival of the humanities, taking place 11 – 20 November 2021. Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information please see the Being Human website