Art on the Tideway Strategy & Programme
Art on the Tideway: Turning to Face the River, Public Art Strategy & Programme
Year
2016-2018
Client
fereday pollard for Tideway
Collaborator
Vivienne Reiss for Strategy
Services
Scoping Report
Public Art Strategy
Devising and Delivering Public Art Programme
Commission Management
Locations
Across central London
A Public Art Strategy and Programme for Tideway
Art on the Tideway is an ambitious public art programme for London, inviting leading contemporary artists to meaningful connect with London’s past and future as the tunnel is built. With over fifty temporary and permanent commissions, it challenges artists to animate new environments and create engaging interventions for the city’s diverse audiences. Following the east – west path of the tunnel, it marks the River Thames as a new cultural venue; as we turn back to face the river.
The bold, world-class art programme created with local communities and stakeholders will celebrate the achievements of the Thames Tideway Tunnel through the presentation of site responsive artworks and projects. Exploring heritage and looking to the future, artists will animate new public spaces and create neighbourhood interventions to surprise, delight and inspire diverse audiences…
Art on the Tideway comprises a core programme of temporary commissions and events, in addition to permanent integrated commissions for each of the sites where the tunnel is being constructed. The permanent commissions responding to the site specific heritage narratives set out in Tideway’s Heritage Interpretation Strategy.
“I am delighted that Tideway has launched a Public Art Strategy and Art Programme. The strong link between the Public Art and the Heritage Interpretation Strategies fuses the power of heritage and contemporary art. The artists will
have rich themes to build on: the River Thames’s ecology, shared public space, our personal and community identities as well as a nod to the city’s changing fabric. I’m a fervent believer in the power of arts and culture to improve our quality of life. This is what will happen here, both above and below ground. Bring on the ideas!”
Temporary Commissions
These are primarily site-specific commissions for the construction site hoardings, which have been developed in many cases in collaboration with local residents, schools or other organisations. Most of the artists have been commissioned via open calls for artists local to the sites. The twelve artworks will generally be in situ until the construction is completed. The engagement programme in 2017-2019 has involved 6,561people, in 75 events, from 6 months to 85yrs old.
The artists commissioned are:
Tim Davies, Nine Elms Lane, Battersea
Renata Fernandez, Carnwath Road Riverside, South Fulham
Joy Gerrard, Blackfriars
Matheson Marcault, King Edward Memorial Park, Wapping
Edwin Mingard, Greenwich Pumping Station
Amy Pennington, Putney Embankment
Simon Roberts, Victoria Embankment
Emma Smith, Chelsea Embankment
Eleanor Stanley, Falconbrook Pumping Station, York Road
Emily Tracy, King George’s Park, Wandsworth
Madeleine Waller, Deptford Church Street
John Walter, Chambers Wharf, Bermondsey
Tania Kovats, Tideway’s inaugural artist in residence
Studio Morison 2019-21 artist in residence.
“This is a major cultural collaboration for the design of new public realm informed by the rich heritage of the river, which in terms of major UK infrastructure projects is unprecedented. Tideway will commission the highest quality artworks, responsive to each of our sites across London. A bold programme of commissions of varying scale and profile, temporary and permanent, will explore multiple aspects of the River Thames and help to reposition it as a new cultural venue.”
Permanent Commissions
Tideway has commissioned a number of artists to create twenty three permanent integrated artworks, or series of artworks, for the three new acres of public realm next to the River Thames. These are currently being designed and will then be fabricated and installed once the tunnel has been completed and the public realm constructed. The commissioned artists are:
Yemi Awosile
Claire Barclay
Jo Chapman
Adam Chodzko
Lubna Chowdhary
Nathan Coley
Leo Fitzmaurice
Robert Green, Typographer
Hew Locke OBE
Marina Warner, Pentagram
Frances Presley, Poet
Florian Roithmayr
Lucy Skaer
Dorothea Smart FSL, Poet
Sarah Staton
Studio Weave
Richard Wentworth CBE
July 2022 Update: Clare Donnelly, Lead Architect on the Tideway project, said: “Creating new public spaces in the heart of London is an incredible opportunity and it’s so exciting after all these years to see these spaces coming to life.
“New public spaces in Wapping, Blackfriars, Victoria, Vauxhall, Nine Elms, Chelsea and Putney will benefit Londoners and visitors to the city for generations to come, and we can’t wait for them to open.”
When Sir Joseph Bazalgette built London’s sewerage network in the 1800s, he had to build out into the river to house his brick-lined tunnels, above-ground spaces that are known as Victoria, Albert and Chelsea Embankments. Tideway is building on that legacy today and, much like Bazalgette’s, these public spaces will provide new destinations for Londoners and tourists alike.
Awards
2024 National Infrastructure Commission Design Principles Award: “The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a great example of a project delivered in-line with the NIC design principles. It has responded to all aspects of the criteria; Climate, people, place and value, and as such we hope it will leave a positive legacy in the years to come."
2024 British Construction Industry Awards (BCIA), Project of the Year Award: "Judges agreed this project had pushed boundaries in ways that delivered real success in every aspect of project delivery – be it stakeholder engagement, placemaking, remarkable EDI policy put into practice or decarbonisation through new practices and materials. The project set new standards for safety. And most crucially, judges felt the scale and intended longevity of the environmental and social impact built upon the legacy of Bazalgette’s great sewer innovations and makes this infrastructure that over delivers, creates public realm and generates an identity. Really outstanding."
2024 BCIA Environment Project of the year: “In setting out a vision to reconnect London with the River Thames, this project has set new benchmarks in not just delivering against its stated outcomes but also through the adoption of a new funding model, the use of digital technology alongside a model of collaborative delivery, whilst taking a very positive approach to walking the talk on the whole EDI agenda.”
For more information see:
www.tideway.london