Tunnel vision helps New Yorkers find their voice - and stops traffic!

Alice Jones' Arts Diary

Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

It’s a brave man who stops the traffic in New York but artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer will do just that when he closes the Park Avenue tunnel with his new work.

From 7am to 1pm on Saturday, and for the next two Saturdays, New Yorkers will be able to walk through the road tunnel for the first time as part of the installation Voice Tunnel. In the middle there will be an intercom into which they can speak a message which will then be broadcast out in waves of sound and light.

A team of 30 will work through the night on Fridays each week to build the piece and then dismantle it in time for the traffic to roll again by 5pm on Saturday.

Fears that some may use the intercom to broadcast hate or incite panic have been allayed by the artist, who, while refusing the NYPD’s requests to censor or delay the messages, has conceded to a monitor. “We have a little delete button,” he told The New York Times. “Hopefully we don’t have to use that.”