The idea of a large raft of 127 illuminated “talking buoys” that is intended to be Wales’s answer to The Angel of the North is being fought over fiercely in the town it is supposed to celebrate.

More than half the 4,200-strong population of Cardigan in West Wales have signed a petition opposing the installation.

The £400,000 work of art – to be called, perhaps appropriately, Turbulence — is to be moored in the River Teifi beside a medieval stone bridge and close to the ruins of the town’s 11th-century castle.

The project, paid for by the Art Fund, the Welsh Assembly and the Big Art Trust set up by Channel 4, has created animosity between those who believe that it will attract visitors and those who say that it is a mad idea that will end in disaster.

Last week more than 100 opponents held a protest at the riverside site. The Teifi’s swift tidal currents are intended to trigger the large plastic buoys into random flashing, while loudspeakers inside them play messages left by visitors or sent over the internet.

Ralph Rea, a retired builder who is leading the opposition to the scheme, said: “Flashing lights! Talking buoys! From the moment I heard of it my reaction was total disbelief, astonishment and anger. It will never be built because we won’t let it.”

The idea was dreamt up by the Mexican conceptual artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, who recently had three exhibitions running simultaneously in London. He was given the commission by Channel 4, which is planning a series of four programmes on three major public art projects next spring.

Mr Rea, who has been canoeing on the river for 40 years, claims that the 18 metre by 12 metre area of buoys will scare the river’s otters, swans, trout and salmon and create a hazard to small boats. He has helped to gather the petition, which so far has 2,500 signatures.

Supporters of the project claim that having a major work by a famous artist will put Cardigan back on the map having been a bit of a backwater for the past few hundred years. In the Middle Ages the town was the busiest port in Wales and in 1176 the castle hosted the first national eisteddfod.

Jim Evans, who proposed the idea of a major piece of public art while managing the restoration of the riverside quays, said: “There have been people opposed to most of the big public art projects that we now cherish like Crosby Beach in Liverpool and The Angel of the North. This will put us on the map, which is important because we are a long way from anywhere and we have to shout loudly to make ourselves heard.”

Before he visited Cardigan for the first time this year, Lozano-Hemmer, 41, who lives in Montreal, had not only never been to Wales, he had never seen the sea. Mr Evans said: “He was astonished to discover that the tide comes in and out twice a day.”

The concept for Turbulence was inspired by the tidal river and the central role that the voice plays in Welsh culture. But even Mr Evans admits that the idea that anyone can record a snippet for broadcast from the buoys may go too far. He said that although the artist opposed any form of censorship a compromise might be required.

Backers of the scheme, which is ready to go as soon as final approval is given, are awaiting an environmental assessment of the impact on wildlife.

The ladies of Cardigan Arts Society, gathered for their winter exhibition, were more concerned about other practicalities. Sally Yeomans said: “You only have to look at the state of the fisherman’s buoys after a week in the river covered in mud and algae to consider how they are going to keep it clean. If they can do that they should forget about art and go into boat building because they’d make millions.”

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010