Transport for London (TfL) has revealed the artworks which will feature in next year's Art on the Underground programme.
Major new pieces by internationally renowned artists will be unveiled throughout the year.
There will also be a new art commission for one of London Underground's stations at Heathrow Airport.
Art on the Underground will continue to work with contemporary artists, with the aim of considering the history of art on the transport network and the collective experience of travel shared by the stations and the communities they serve.
2024's commissions aim to illustrate the diversity and movement of London, in line with Art on the Underground's goal, which it describes as “creating meaningful and expansive dialogues with artists, publics and public space”.
With passenger numbers on the Tube now at around 88 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, with around 24.4 million journeys made each week,more Londoners and visitors are already enjoying the range of art on display on London transport. On Thursdays, passenger numbers have reached around four million for the first time since the pandemic.
The programme's major commissions for next year include:
- June: a series of artworks in the rotunda at Heathrow Terminal 4 Underground station, created by British artist and photographer Joy Gregory, in dialogue with refugees and asylum seekers in Hillingdon. The series focuses on themes of migration and plants, and presents Heathrow as a gateway to London and seeks to honour the stories and futures of people whose realities are often maligned or misrepresented.
- July: a new sound work produced by London and Beirut-based artist Joe Namy with the Mayor of London's Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme, which will focus on the social construction of music and organised sound.
- October: a permanent mosaic work at historic St James's Park station, which is located beneath TfL's former headquarters, 55 Broadway. British artist duo Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings will create the mosaic, which will be a diptych across six panels and will “unpack the various forms of authority, power and disorder within our public spaces and question how social hierarchy, class and obedience are negotiated”. It is inspired by philosopher Walter Benjamin's description of artist Paul Klee's Angelus Novus as an image of the ‘angel of history'.
- November: a new mural at Brixton station by leading British artist Claudette Johnson, who will be the eighth artist in the series of commissions at the station since 2018, which has responded to local murals painted in the 1980s. Johnson was a founding member of the BLK Art Group in Wolverhampton in the early 1980s, and her work challenges harmful stereotypes through figuration and gesture, foregrounding Black women and men.
- August: a new commission exploring the history of moquette design for the pocket Tube Map, by British artist Rita Keegan, who co-founded the Brixton Art Gallery in 1983 and the Women Artists of Colour Index (WOCI) in 1985. The artwork will explore memory, history, dress and textiles, with the new Tube map cover to look into London Underground's archive of Tube seat moquette fabrics.
This year's Art on the Underground programme saw the first in a new series of sound artworks, by artist Shenece Oretha; a sixty-metre-long amphibian sculptural installation at Gloucester Road station by Monster Chetwynd; and a performance by Barby Asante at Stratford station of piece ‘Declaration of Independence'.
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, which is sponsoring the programme, 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.”
