Rotterdam train crash-inspired artwork to be at Stratford Tube station
The piece, created by artist Ahmet Öğüt, is part of Transport for London’s (TfL) Art on the Underground programme, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
Öğüt’s work, titled Saved by the Whale’s Tail, Saved by Art, will explore the role art plays in everyday life.
The project was inspired by a 2020 incident in Rotterdam, where a train was prevented from falling into water by a 10-metre-high public art sculpture of a whale’s tail.
The artwork will include a major installation and a call out to the public for stories about how art has saved lives.
The most moving submission will be awarded a sculpture created by Öğüt.
The Stratford station artwork is one of four new pieces to be introduced to the network this year as part of the Art on the Underground programme.
Other works include a new pocket Tube map featuring a design by Agnes Denes, an audio commission by Rory Pilgrim at Waterloo station, and a painting by Rudy Loewe at Brixton station.
Justine Simons OBE, London’s 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 travelling 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.”
Eleanor Pinfield, head of Art on the Underground, added: “Art on the Underground has been bringing leading international artists to the spaces of the Tube for 25 years.
“In 2025, we continue this tradition, with a series of thoughtful commissions that foreground interactions with art in daily life.
“Across 2025, the programme will interrogate how art can save us and what it means to gather together, in shared space and with local communities.
“Seen and heard by millions, the 2025 programme is a response to London today, whilst always reflecting on our past and possible futures.”
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