TfL announces new Art on the Underground artworks for 2024
- Among the works are a piece exploring themes of migration at Heathrow Terminal 4 station, a mosaic at St James's Park station and an artist-led collaboration with the Greater London Authority's (GLA) Culture and Community Spaces at Risk Team
- Family run recruitment and business services company Reed is named as annual sponsor of TfL's flagship art programme
- Ridership levels on the Underground continue to rise and hit 4m journeys a day on Thursdays making the Tube one of the world's busiest galleries
Transport for London's (TfL's) Art on the Underground programme has announced an exciting list of artworks that will launch in 2024, with major new pieces by internationally renowned artists to be unveiled throughout the year and a new art commission for one of the Underground stations at Heathrow Airport. It comes as Reed a family run recruitment and business services company has been confirmed as the annual sponsor for the art programme.
Art on the Underground will continue in 2024 its tradition of working with contemporary artists to consider the history of art on the transport network and the collective experience of travel, through the stations themselves and the communities around them. Next year's commissions give voice to the diversity and movement of the city today, continuing Art on the Underground's commitment to creating meaningful and expansive dialogues with artists, publics and public space.
More people from across London and visitors to the capital are already enjoying the range of diverse artworks that feature across London's transport network, with new ridership figures from TfL showing that that Tube ridership is now at round 88 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, with around 24.4 million journeys made each week. Specifically on Thursdays, ridership levels are reaching around 4 million for the first time since the pandemic demonstrating that London is thriving once again.
The programme's major commissions for next year include:
- A series of artworks in the rotunda at Heathrow Terminal 4 Underground station in June by British artist and photographer Joy Gregory, focussing on themes of migration and plants and created in dialogue with refugees and asylum seekers in Hillingdon. The works envisage Heathrow as a gateway to London and seek to honour the stories and futures of people whose realities are often maligned or misrepresented
- London and Beirut-based artist Joe Namy will produce a new sound work with the Mayor of London's Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme, bringing a new audio work to the London Underground network in July, focussing on the social construction of music and organised sound
- British artist duo Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings will create a permanent mosaic work at historic St James's Park station, situated beneath TfL's former headquarters, in October. Through their work, the artists unpack the various forms of authority, power and disorder within our public spaces and question how social hierarchy, class and obedience are negotiated. Their mosaic, a diptych across six panels is inspired by philosopher Walter Benjamin's description of artist Paul Klee's Angelus Novus as an image of the 'angel of history'*. Quinlan and Hastings's artwork for St James's Park will consider a period of political nostalgia, situated between Westminster - where the future is debated - and the Royal palaces, where the past is preserved
- Leading British artist Claudette Johnson will create a new mural artwork at Brixton station in November, as the eighth artist in the series of commissions at Brixton Tube station which, since 2018, has responded to the diverse narratives of the local murals painted in the 1980s. A founding member of the BLK Art Group in Wolverhampton in the early 1980s, Johnson is one of the foremost figurative artists working in Britain today. Challenging harmful stereotypes of representation through figuration and gesture, Johnson's work gives space and power to the presence of Black women and men and offers a mediation on shared humanity
- British artist Rita Keegan, who co-founded the Brixton Art Gallery in 1983 and established the Women Artists of Colour Index (WOCI) in 1985, will develop a new commission exploring the history of moquette design for the pocket Tube Map in August. Keegan's work explores memory, history, dress and textiles, with the new Tube map cover to look into London Underground's archive of Tube seat moquette fabrics to identify a textile design rumoured to have been produced by the late artist Althea McNish, marking the centenary of her birth
Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: "Art on the Underground is renowned around the world for transforming our Tube into a large public art gallery. Next year will see the partnership between contemporary artists, communities and history continue, bringing to life stories of diversity, culture and design from across London. I am confident that these striking artworks will be a welcome addition for commuters and visitors as they travel through the city, helping to build a better London for everyone."
Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground at TfL, said: "Bringing leading international artists to the spaces of the Tube in partnership with Reed, our 2024 programme invites a focus on the art and design history of London Underground, whilst also exploring the contemporary terrain of London today. The commissions ask us to reflect again on our histories; on whose voices are foregrounded and whose are overlooked and raises questions on how we might interrogate that history today."
James Reed CBE, Chairman and Chief Executive of Reed, said: "Reed is delighted to be the first annual sponsor of Transport for London's Art on the Underground initiative. During many commutes through London, I have admired the impressive pieces and installations created by some of the very best emerging and established artists. Reed has a long history of supporting people and communities across London to find meaningful employment, including through our valued partnership with TfL. I look forward to the year ahead with many more interesting commutes, alongside the millions of people who are on their way to work."
The artworks for 2024 follow this year's successful programme that saw the first in a brand-new series of sound artworks launch on the Tube network, by artist Shenece Oretha, a 60-metre-long amphibian sculptural installation at Gloucester Road station by Monster Chetwynd, and a major performance by Barby Asante at Stratford station of her seminal piece 'Declaration of Independence'.
Notes to editors
About Art on the Underground
Art on the Underground invites artists to create projects for London's Underground that are seen by millions of people each day, changing the way people experience their city. Incorporating a range of artistic media - from painting, installation, sculpture, digital and performance, to prints and custom Tube Map covers - the programme produces critically acclaimed projects that are accessible to all, and which draw together London's diverse communities. Since its inception, Art on the Underground has presented commissions by UK-based and international artists including Jeremy Deller, Yayoi Kusama, Mark Wallinger, and Tania Bruguera, allowing the programme to remain at the forefront of contemporary debate on how art can shape public space.
St James's Park commission, Hastings & Quinlan
*Walter Benjamin (1892 -1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. In the ninth thesis of his 1940 essay Theses on the Philosophy of History, Benjamin describes a painting by his friend, the artist Paul Klee, Angelus Novus (1920) as an image of the angel of history:
A Klee painting named Angelus Novus shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.
Artist Biographies
Joy Gregory (b. 1959. Bicester, UK) is an important and influential artist sometimes overlooked by the mainstream as her work does not easily fit into any framework. Her practice is concerned with social and political issues often making particular reference to histories and cultural differences, which characterise contemporary society. The work is highly intelligent, thoughtful and challenging, tending toward a seductive aesthetic which underlines its relevance and accessibility across class, race, cultural, and economic divides. As an artist, she makes full use of media from video, digital and analogue photography to Victorian print processes. She studied at Manchester Polytechnic (1984) and the Royal College of Art (1986) where she graduated with a MA in Photography. She has exhibited all over the world and shown in many biennales and festivals and is also the recipient of numerous awards.
Her work is included in many collections including the UK Arts Council Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia, and Yale British Art Collection. She currently lives and works in London. In 2022, Gregory received the NESTA Fellowship and is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Yale Centre of British Art researching for new work. She has recently completed a commission for the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and the National Portrait Gallery Artist Residency at The Exchange, Newlyn in Penzance.
In 2023, she was announced as the winner of the Freelands Foundation Award with Whitechapel Gallery, who will stage Gregory's first monographic exhibition in autumn 2025. As well as being a highly respected artist, Gregory is a renowned educator of 30 years with a wide range of experience from formal, to community and elementary schools, to higher education. She has been the Director of Higher Education programmes in the UK and overseas and was the external examiner for the MFA in Photography at the National Institute of Design, India and the BA Fine at Duncan & Jordanstown. Joy has also been involved in a variety of photography mentorship programmes including a project around climate change for the British Council in Nigeria and for the Market Photography Workshop in Johannesburg training marginalised communities in the Kalahari to take control and tell their own stories without being filtered by an outside voice.
As well as being a highly respected artist, Gregory is a renowned educator of 30 years with a wide range of experience from formal, to community and elementary schools, to higher education. She has been the Director of Higher Education programmes in the UK and overseas and was the external examiner for the MFA in Photography at the National Institute of Design, India and the BA Fine at Duncan & Jordanstown. Joy has also been involved in a variety of photography mentorship programmes including a project around climate change for the British Council in Nigeria and for the Market Photography Workshop in Johannesburg training marginalised communities in the Kalahari to take control and tell their own stories without being filtered by an outside voice.
Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings (b. 1991. Newcastle, London) are a London-based artist duo known for their exploration of queer identity, urban spaces, and social politics. Their practice is multi-disciplinary encompassing; fresco painting, drawing, video, performance, print-making, publishing and installation. Grounded in researching how various communities have been represented throughout history, they interpret social and political issues by drawing from art history and archives. Their work invites viewers to question their relationships with space, power dynamics, social hierarchy, class, order, and obedience within our public spaces.
Recent solo shows include Bleak House, Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, NO (2023); Inside, Huset For Kunst & Design, Holstebro, DK (2023); Art Now, Tate Modern, London, UK (2022); Inside, Kunsthalle Osnabrück, DE (2022); In My Room, Mostyn, Wales, UK (2020); and Humber Street Gallery, Hull, UK (2020). Selected solo shows include, We Lost Them At Midnight, Arcadia Missa, London, UK (2017); Gaby, Queer Thoughts, New York, US (2018); Selected group exhibitions include Divided Selves: Legacies, Memories, Belonging, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK (2023); Crowd Control, High Art Arles, Arles, FR (2022); Future Generation Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, UA (2021); London Zeitgeist, Circa, London, UK, Seoul, KR and Tokyo, JP (2021); The Eva Biannial, Limerick, IR (2021); Jarman Award, Whitechapel Gallery (online), London, UK (2020); Kiss My Genders, Hayward Gallery, London (2019); Queer Spaces: London, 1980s-Today, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2019); The Cruising Pavilion, Venice 16th Architecture Biennale, IT (2018). Selected performances include Image Transmission, ICA (2019); Move Festival, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR (2019); Kiss My Gender Live, Southbank Centre, London, UK (2019). Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hasting's work is in major public collections including British Museum, London (UK); British Council Collection, London (UK); Government Art Collection, London (UK); Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield (UK); The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (UK); The Box, Plymouth (UK); David Roberts Art Foundation, London, (UK); Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (UK); Deutsche Bank Collection, Berlin (DE)."
Claudette Johnson (b. 1959, Manchester, UK) lives and works in London. Johnson started her career as part of the newly formed BLK Art Group, which she joined in 1981 while a student at Wolverhampton University. In the 1980s Johnson showed her work in a number of significant shows including Five Black Women, Africa Centre, London,(1983); Black Women Time Now, Battersea Arts Centre, London,(1984); The Thin Black Line, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, (1985) and In This Skin: Drawings by Claudette Johnson, Black Art Gallery, London, (1992).
Presence, Johnson's first monographic exhibition at a major public gallery in London is on view at The Courtauld Gallery until January 2024. In 2024 she will have a solo presentation at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, and will be included in group shows The Time of Our Lives, Drawing Room, London; The Time is Always Now, National Portrait Gallery, London and On Art and Motherhood, Arnolfini, Bristol. Recent solo exhibitions include Drawn Out, Ortuzar Projects, New York (2023); Still Here, Hollybush Gardens, London (2021); Claudette Johnson: I Came to Dance, Modern Art Oxford (2019); Claudette Johnson, Hollybush Gardens, London, (2017). She has participated in numerous group exhibitions including: Women in Revolt! Tate Britain, London; A Tall Order!: Rochdale Art Gallery in the 1980s, Touchstones Gallery, Rochdale (both 2023); Rock My Soul II (Stockholm), Galleri Futura, Stockholm; Courtauld Connections: Works from our National Partners, The Project Space, The Courtauld Gallery, London; Drawing Closer, RISD Museum, Rhode Island; On Love, HOME, London; Me, Myself and I: Artists' Self-Portraits, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol (all 2022); Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 50s — Now, Tate Britain, London; Coventry Biennial 2021: HYPER-POSSIBLE, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry; Bodies in Space, MIRROR, Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth; From Hockney to Himid: Sixty Years of British Printmaking, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; Am I Asking for Miracles Here?, The House of St. Barnabas, London; Landscape Portrait: Now and Then, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset (all 2021); Close: Drawn Portraits, The Drawing Room, London, (2018); The Place Is Here, South London Gallery and Nottingham Contemporary, UK, (both 2017); No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990, Guildhall Art Gallery, London, (2015-16); and Thin Black Line(s), Tate Britain, (2012).
Johnson's work is held in numerous public collections, including Tate, London, UK; British Council, UK; Arts Council England, UK; Manchester Art Gallery, UK; Wolverhampton Art Gallery, UK; Rugby Museum, UK and Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, UK.
Rita Keegan (b. 1949. Bronx, New York) is of Caribbean and Black-Canadian descent and moved to London in 1980 having studied Fine Art at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1969-1972. Her work explores memory, history, dress and adornment, often through the use of her extensive family archive - a photographic record of a Black middle class Canadian family dating from the 1890s to present day.
Alongside contemporaries Keith Piper and Gary Stewart, her practice is a defining example of the ways in which new media experimentation intersect with the British Black Arts Movement. In the aftermath of the 1981 Brixton uprisings, Keegan helped establish the Brixton Art Gallery, curating Mirror Reflecting Darkly, the first exhibition by The Black Women Artists collective in 1982.
In 1984, Keegan was the co-founder of Copy Art, a resource and education space for community groups and artists working with the emerging technologies of computers, scanners and photocopiers. From 1985 - 1990, she was a staff member of the Women Artists Slide Library (WASL), where she established the Women Artists of Colour Index. In the early 1990s she was the Director of the African and Asian Visual Arts Archive (AAVAA). Alongside her artistic and archival practice, Rita also taught New Media and Digital Diversity at Goldsmiths, where she helped establish the digital-media undergraduate.