The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and leading British artist David Shrigley today launched a major new series of work by top UK and international artists to be featured across the Tube network, showing London is open to all.
Art on the Underground, Transport for London’s contemporary art programme, commissioned ten artists to respond to the Mayor’s #LondonIsOpen campaign, recently launched to show London is united and open for business and to the world following the EU referendum.
David Shrigley’s design ‘London: Everyone Welcome’ joins work from Tania Bruguera, Gillian Wearing and Mark Titchner rolling out across the Tube network on large scale poster sites and digital displays, incorporating the themes of openness and diversity.
The Mayor today joined David Shrigley, Deputy Mayor for Culture Justine Simons and Team London Ambassadors at Southwark Tube Station to unveil the Turner prize nominee’s work and distribute limited edition Oyster card wallets bearing his design to commuters. The Ambassadors are part of a 600-strong cohort currently summer visitors to the capital at key points in central London including Piccadilly Circus, Parliament Square and Southbank.
Sadiq Khan, said: “Art is a hugely powerful way to say that London is open – open for business, open to ideas, and open to the people from across the world who have chosen to live and work here. London’s world renowned arts and cultural activity is testament to the success of London as an international city.
“We’ve asked some of the world’s leading artists like David Shrigley to help us communicate the simple but vital message that despite the uncertainties around Brexit, that London will remain an international city that embraces and celebrates diversity, a city where everyone is welcome, and a city that will not cut itself off from the rest of the world.”
“It’s been wonderful to see the #LondonIsOpen campaign embraced by Londoners of all ages and backgrounds and hundreds of organisations across our city. This new artwork will make it clear to Londoners going about their everyday lives that #LondonisOpen to everyone, and this is message we will continue to send around the world.”
The work of six more artists will appear across London Underground throughout the rest of the Summer and into the Autumn. Pieces by Sol Calero, Alexandre da Cunha, Jeremy Deller, Hew Locke, Indra Khanna and Bedwyr Williams will be displayed in stations from September.
David Shrigley said: ‘We need to send a message loud and clear that whoever you are, and whatever your background London is still open to you. I’m delighted to be part of such an important campaign – as artists we see every day that our City’s vibrancy and success is intrinsically linked to being open to people and ideas from across the world. This campaign is about what kind of city we want to live in – and I’m proud to be working with the Mayor to get across the message that our capital is a place where everyone is welcome.’
Notes to editors
For images of the artwork, please visit https://www.wetransfer.com/downloads/eba74e07e157a844628b5d7cb3b0aa2b20160727162750/01736a
- #LondonIsOpen artwork will be displayed in all 270 stations across the London Underground network.
- The selection process was managed and commissioned by Art on the Underground’s curatorial team and developed in collaboration with GLA cultural team.
- Launched in 2000 to promote greater understanding of the Tube as a cultural and social environment, Art on the Underground’s mission is to work with leading artists to create extraordinary projects across Transport for London, enriching customers’ journeys today and for the future. AOTU works with artists on a huge range of projects – video and sound pieces, live performances, sculpture, posters, prints and permanent installations. Permanent works by leading artists including Knut Henrik Henrikson, Jacqueline Poncelet, John Maine and Daniel Buren have transformed Tube travellers’ experiences of King’s Cross, Edgware Road, Green Park and Tottenham Court Road stations.
- The Mayor’s #LondonIsOpen campaign, launched on 18th July, aims to show the world that London remains entrepreneurial, international, and full of creativity and possibility, while reassuring the more than one million foreign nationals who live in London that they will always be welcome, and that any form of discrimination will not be tolerated.
To view the campaign videos, please visit:
- Doors video: https://youtu.be/ErLq9nir41E
- #LondonIsOpen featuring Corinne Bailey Rae & Olly Murs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyAriyj1uug
- #LondonIsOpen featuring Konnie Huq, Chris Moyles, Sandra from Gogglebox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd2HZiI-Ioc
- #LondonIsOpen featuring Jude Law, Jarvis Cocker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf-scNhLVgQ
- About the artists
David Shrigley - ‘London: Everyone Welcome’, 2016
Born in Macclesfield, lives in Brighton
Artwork: Poster and Oyster card wallet, displayed in multiple poster sites across London Underground.
A 2013 Turner prize nominee, Shrigley’s hand drawn style often references everyday situations with quick witted texts and deadpan humour. For #LondonIsOpen, Shrigely has created a new work, ‘London: Everyone Welcome’, in his distinctive hand drawn text and drawing. In September 2016, David Shrigley's ‘Really Good' will be unveiled in Trafalgar Square, for the Fourth Plinth Commission.
Gillian Wearing OBE - ‘Work Towards World Peace’, 1992-1993
Born in Birmingham, lives in London
Artwork: digital photograph displayed on digital escalator panels
A 1997 Turner Prize winner, Wearing is a photographer and video artist who uses photography and video to record the confessions of ordinary people. This photograph is from a larger series of images w
here the artist asked passers-by to write down what was on their mind. For #LondonIsOpen, Wearing chose an image with a couple holding a sign, ‘Work Towards World Peace’.
Tania Bruguera - ‘The Francis Effect’, 2014
Born in Cuba, lives and works between New York and Havana
Artwork: Digital poster displayed on LCD digital screens
Working in installation and performance, for #LondonIsOpen Bruguera has created an image of Pangea (the single ‘supercontinent’ that spilt 300 million years ago) where the world is shown joined together, with the statement ‘Dignity has no nationality’. The work makes us think again about immigration and citizenship.
Mark Titchner - ‘No Them Only Us’, 2016
Born and lives in London
Artwork: Large-scale poster displayed on Brixton station header wall at the entrance to station; digital video displayed on cross-track projectors on station platforms
A 2006 Turner Prize nominee, Titchner is famous for his slogan artworks which explore systems of belief in the style of corporate messages. For #LondonIsOpen, Titchner has created a moving image work, using the slogan ‘No Them Only Us.’