Bell Tower signatures in Elizabeth Quay artwork

A new contemporary art piece that captures more than 200,000 student signatures from schools across the state will be installed at Elizabeth Quay in early April.

At an estimated cost of $450,000, the public artwork was part-funded with a $150,000 contribution by the Rotary Club of Perth, made through a Lotterywest grant.

It forms part of a previously announced $4 million public art program for Elizabeth Quay.

Planning Minister John Day said the signatures, which were collected in 1999 as part of the Sign In 2000 project, would be returned to the Barrack Street Jetty precinct.

The artwork features a headphone-shaped design with the signatures etched into thousands of copper plates.

A fibre optic light display has also been incorporated to “represent the passage of time from the year 2000 to present”, illuminating the artwork on interactive panels.

Mr Day said digital technology had been incorporated to improve the experience by providing greater access to the signatures for participants living in regional areas, interstate or overseas.

The signatures were originally captured in 1999 as part of the Bell Tower development to celebrate the millennium.

Mr Day said it was important that an appropriate and permanent reinterpretation of the signatures was developed as part of Elizabeth Quay.

An online application will allow participants and family members to locate a signature on the artwork, view the tile in a larger format, download an image of the original or new tiles, and share via social media.

The artwork was created by local artists Simon Gauntlett and Matthew Ngui.