A new art installation, featuring light panels that are triggered by passing L trains and other sounds, was unveiled Friday at the CTA’s Damen Blue Line station on the North Side.
The installation at the elevated station at 1558 N. Damen, titled “Soundtrack,” displays changing light patterns on color LED panels “that are activated by sound as well as vibrations caused by moving trains, cars and riders walking along the station platform,” according to the CTA.
The panels were installed on the outside of the platform, so the light show is most visible from the street. Blue Line commuters who ride the O’Hare branch on weekdays — the CTA estimates that to include more than 80,000 Chicagoans — will have to hope to catch a glimpse while boarding or alighting the train at Damen.
The installation, designed by artists Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues of Ball-Nogues Studio, is part of an Emanuel administration plan to expand public art and follows a $13.6 million renovation of the Damen Station that began in 2014.
