Station Clock, Twelve Tones

Susan Sound Film from Birmingham Big Art Project on Vimeo.

Station Clock, Twelve Tones, has been designed by Turner prize winner Susan Philipsz for the proposed new Curzon Street HS2 station, features sounds made by 1,092 city folk. Curzon Street will become the first brand-new intercity terminus station built in Britain since the 19th Century. It will operate with net zero carbon while serving high-speed trains between London and Birmingham. Inspired by and contributing to the development of Philipsz’s public artwork Station Clock, Twelve Tones is a citywide, participatory art project which has engaged communities across Birmingham and Solihull. Launched by the artist in a workshop with Royal Birmingham Conservatoire students in November 2018, the objective of this project was to record 1,092 voices, each sounding a note from the chromatic musical scale. These voices will be composed into compilations to be played out from speakers in the Station Clock artwork, on the hour, every hour, seven days a week. All 1,092 voices have now been recorded and are being developed by the project’s composer/producer, Andy Ingamells. Work on the station is expected to continue until 2028. Construction for the station façade will begin in Summer 2025, while work on the concourse steelwork and the roof is due to start in Autumn 2025. The internal fit-out of the station will start towards the end of 2025 and will be completed at the end of 2028. Meanwhile, operational testing and commissioning will run from Summer 2026 to Autumn 2028.