London Underground Maps Public Art
London Underground released an updated map guiding riders to public art installations across the network, featuring "The Congregation" by Rudy Loewe at Brixton station. Pop-up talks are celebrating the Underground's role as a canvas for public creativity, though rail replacement buses continue through March on certain lines.
The Art on the Underground program, which commissions these works, has a history stretching back to the early 20th century when London Underground's Managing Director, Frank Pick, first hired artists for poster campaigns. The program was formally established as "Platform for Art" in 2000, initially focusing on the disused platform at Gloucester Road station, and was rebranded as Art on the Underground in 2007. Rudy Loewe's "The Congregation" is the ninth in a series of temporary murals commissioned for the Brixton station entrance since 2018, a program that honors the legacy of the Brixton murals of the 1980s. Loewe's piece, on display for a year, consists of twenty scenes that celebrate Brixton's history as a center for London's Black communities, depicting everything from the arrival of the Windrush Generation to local activists and landmarks. The free pop-up talks celebrating the new map will take place on Sunday, March 8. The schedule includes journalist Amelia Gentleman discussing her father David Gentleman's work at Charing Cross, and artist Larry Achiampong speaking about his 2022 roundel designs at Westminster station. Eleanor Pinfield, the head of Art on the Underground, will introduce a mosaic at St James's Park station. The 2026 program for Art on the Underground includes five new commissions. Later in March, artist Phoebe Boswell will unveil a photographic artwork at Bethnal Green and Notting Hill stations, inspired by local Black swimming communities and hidden waterways. Subsequent projects will include a new pocket Tube map cover by American artist Ellen Gallagher in June and a large-scale painting by Caroline Walker at Stratford station in September. The ongoing engineering works will affect several lines over the weekend of March 7-8. Due to track work, the entire Hammersmith & City line will be closed, along with sections of the Circle, District, and Metropolitan lines. A large portion of the Piccadilly line will also be shut for upgrades, with service only running between Acton Town and Heathrow Airport. Additionally, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) will have no service on multiple sections, including between Stratford International and Woolwich Arsenal, due to the testing of new trains. Parts of the London Overground, including the Windrush line between Highbury & Islington and New Cross Gate, will also be closed. Rail replacement bus services will be in operation for many of the affected routes.
