The Tyne and Wear Metro tunnel artwork that’s been ‘hidden’ for two decades

It’s not a commonly known fact, but the first public artwork in Britain to be commissioned in a railway tunnel is on the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Space Travel, a sequence of 115 images taken from the interior of car parks throughout the UK, was installed in the Metro tunnel between Gateshead and Newcastle in September 2005. Like a series of animated film stills, it describes a journey rising through a deserted multi-storey car park.

The brainchild of London-based artist Elizabeth Wright, it comes to life when the train picks up speed. Reproduced on large, light-reflective panels, it can be seen through the right-hand Metro carriage windows as the train accelerates into the tunnel from Gateshead, heading north towards Newcastle.

Located along 300 metres of tunnel wall, the panels will sometimes be glimpsed as individual images and sometimes they will read like a short film sequence. The experience of Space Travel suggests comparisons between the real journey through a Metro tunnel and the artist’s constructed journey, moving up the car park’s ramps and emerging into the open air on the roof.

The scheme was funded by the Arts Council and the Henry Moore Foundation. The then Director General of Nexus, Mike Parker, said: “This is another groundbreaking commission which will change the experience of travelling through a Metro tunnel and intrigue thousands of passengers on their daily journeys. The work further demonstrates how artists’ imagination and skills can enliven public transport environments.”

There are other artworks associated with Gateshead Metro Interchange, which opened in 1983, that may have escaped the attention of busy day-to-day passengers. They include Peacock (Lisa Johnson, 2011) at the Jackson Street entrance; Opening Line (Danny Lane, 2004), a large sculpture at the centre of the bus interchange facing stands N-Z; Bridges (artist unknown, 2014), depicting the seven bridges spanning the Tyne Gorge; Nocturnal Landscape (Keith Grant, 1983) at the ticket concourse, a mosaic which transports passengers to a magical Norwegian coastline; The Big Picture (various, 2012) also located on the ticket concourse; Space Invaders (2007), at various locations around the station; and Night and Day (Keith Grant, 1983), two giant mosaics facing each other at either end of the Metro platforms.

Meanwhile, Nocturne (Nayan Kulkarni, 2007) brought new life to the QEII Metro Bridge between Gateshead and Newcastle Central Station when it was repainted in 2007 with its two-tone blue colour scheme. And in Sports Day (1986) on nearby West Street, Mike Winstone makes a reference to Gateshead’s reputation for sports more humorous than heroic, with the four-metre high figure competing in a sack race.

Next time we’re on the Metro, leaving Gateshead and heading towards Newcastle, maybewe’ll glance up from our mobile phones and look out for the Space Travel artwork.