Young artists display thought-provoking posters at Metro stations

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Young artists display thought-provoking posters at Metro stations

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Picture of Roger Smith

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‘You Heard Us’ art work
‘You Heard Us’ art work // Credit: Nexus

A group of young artists from the Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art in are displaying their works of art at stations on the Metro.

The displays are a result of a collaboration between Nexus, the public body that owns and manages Metro, the Baltic Centre, NE1, the Virgin Money Foundation, and Eldon Square.

Every two weeks, a group of 14 to 19-year-olds who call themselves The Young Producers meet every at the Baltic Centre to plan events, projects, and commissions where they can showcase the voices, ideas, and concerns of young people, and campaign for change.

The Young Producers have produced a series of thought-provoking prints titled ‘You Heard Us’ that are being displayed at four Metro stations, where they will be seen by the thousands of people who use the Metro each day.

The aim of the project is to display the art and words of people who aren’t always heard in the most public of places.

The result of the project is a series of risograph prints, developed in collaboration with artists Foundation Press and Luca Rutherford.

The prints were produced after the group members were asked to think about their dream worlds and interviewed each other about them. The works are designed to interrupt the everyday and the mundane and ask travellers to imagine a brighter and more positive future. Also included in the posters are quotes from transcripts of the group’s interviews.

Captions accompanying each poster explain their meaning, and there is a QR code that links to a digital zine where viewers can learn more about the project and read the group’s interviews.

In total, there are 15 posters in various combinations across the four sites, with the design of each poster being led by one member of the group. Although the quotes in each poster are standalone, there is also connections between them with five questions and ten answers.

The ‘You Heard Us’ displays can currently be seen in Metro stations at West , , Cullercoats, and Gateshead Interchange.

This is not the first time that Metro has involved artists, as four artists were invited to submit designs for artwork to be displayed inside Metro’s new trains.

Customer Services Director at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said: “This is a brilliant and thought-provoking arts project which gives young people the chance to showcase their work in the public realm.

“We have an extensive art on transport programme, with a wide and varied range of works displayed in permanent and temporary installations.

“I’m really pleased we have been able to carry that on through this project and I hope that people like the displays.”

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