Art on the Underground: New works announced for Waterloo and Brixton

Artists are to spend a year trying to improve life for commuters and workers on the London Underground.

Today, Transport for London (TfL) has revealed plans for four major artworks to be introduced at sites including Waterloo and Brixton Tube stations throughout 2025.

The commissions form part of the Art on the Underground programme, which marks its 25th anniversary this year.

In spring a large-scale artwork by Ahmet Öğüt will be unveiled at Stratford station, and a new pocket Tube map will feature a design by Agnes Denes, based on her iconic work Map Projections.

Later in the year, from June 30 until July 13, a new audio commission by Rory Pilgrim will be heard by millions of commuters at Waterloo station.

The work has been created in association with the Mayor of London’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk (CCSaR) programme.

The artwork will be heard through station speakers along the moving walkway connecting the Northern and Jubilee lines at Waterloo station.

It will welcome thousands of customers who pass through Waterloo station each day. 

A Turner Prize nominee in 2023, Mr Pilgrim works across music composition, performance, film, drawing and text to reflect on community and social change.

Finally in November, a new painting by Rudy Loewe will adorn the entrance of Brixton station.

Loewe’s artistic practice uses voices which have often been suppressed by the dominant retelling of history.

Their graphic approach to painting – featuring bold, flat colours – references their background in comics and illustration and often binds text, image and narratives together. 

Loewe’s new work will be part of the Brixton Mural Programme, which recognises the area’s rich mural history dating back to the 1980s as well as the wider social and political history of mural making.

Loewe is the ninth artist in the series of commissions at Brixton Tube station. They will follow  Turner prize nominee Claudette Johnson, whose Three Women mural is currently on display at the station.

All four new works have been commissioned by TfL to encourage conversations between artists and the public and reflect on the history and movement of the capital today.

Justine Simons OBE, deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: “Art on the Underground is renowned around the world for transforming London’s Tube into a large public art gallery. 

“Offering free art to the millions traveling every day, it builds on our rich history of inspiring art and design across the transport network and has become an integral part of London’s story as a creative capital. 

“As we celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, there is so much to look forward to, with four brilliant new artworks being added to the network, as we build a better London for everyone.”

Since Art on the Underground was launched in 2000, the programme has commissioned works including Alexandre da Cunha’s kinetic sculpture at Battersea Power Station Underground station and Mark Wallinger’s Labyrinth across the London Underground network.

Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground, said: “Art on the Underground has been bringing leading international artists to the spaces of the Tube for 25 years.

“Seen and heard by millions, the 2025 programme is a response to London today, whilst always reflecting on our past and possible futures.”

Pictured top: Rory Pilgrim, Pink and Green visit the prison, 2024 (Picture: Courtesy of Maureen Paley)