In the early 21st century, the high street as we know it is facing a multi-layered crisis. What’s going to happen to all of these empty storefronts? Shops are closing so we need to find a way of making the city centre more of a destination.
Street Stories is a packaged initiative to bring art, culture, colour, life and beauty back to city streets. Our concept is to take those abandoned or neglected shopfronts and work with local artists and creators to reimagine the past, present, and future of the city.
The artwork showcased through Street Stories blends creativity with cutting-edge technology. Each piece comes alive through Augmented Reality: simply point your phone’s camera to unlock hidden layers of animation, sound, and storytelling. With AR, the city’s streets don’t just display art – they interact with you, turning every corner into an immersive experience.
To bring this vision to life, we collaborated with digital agency Graff.io Arts to design and develop the AR features, including the dedicated Street Stories app. Through it, curious explorers can experience dynamic, multi-sensory animations that quite literally make the city’s art move.
Street Stories began as part of BID Leicester‘s ‘Empty Units’ initiative, created to revitalise vacant spaces across Leicester’s city centre. When Arch won the pitch to transform these empty lots, we saw an opportunity to do more than just fill them. We wanted to celebrate the city itself. Street Stories became a platform to showcase local artistic talent, honour Leicester’s rich heritage, and shine a light on the pioneering people who have helped shape its identity.
“Our concept was to create an interactive street museum and highlight some important and less well known stories to new audiences. We’ve also been able to give a platform to a diverse range of artists spanning a spectrum of styles and mediums, resulting in an exciting art trail across the city centre, with something for everyone.”
– Joe Nixon, Arch Creative Director
