Metro masterpieces
In the UK, the role of the station at the centre of the community is growing in importance. STEFANIE FOSTER reports on how Stockholm’s metro stations have been embracing this vision for decades
Stations are far more than simply a portal to another place - they also hold a cultural significance. They’re the central hubs of their surrounding communities and they’re often the first and last place on the railway that a passenger experiences. And stations which are easy on the eye seem to fulfil this role more than others.
Some of the most impressive examples are London’s Underground stations, with their individual characters created by bespoke tiles, vintage styling and colour schemes. More recently, they have also been adorned with contemporary art projects, as part of London’s Art on the Underground initiative, launched in 2000 to promote greater understanding of the Tube as a cultural and social environment. You may remember Alby station on the red line was opened in 1975. Designed to be a hidden green oasis, artist Olle Angkvist decorated the cave station with moss green flowers, mazes and symbols. Angkvist included some unexpected figures in his work that were not in his original plans, sticking their tongues out at adverts and posters. the Labyrinth project to create artwork for all 270 stations on the network in the form of a maze for LU’s 150th anniversary in 2013. But while London may have the oldest underground railway network in the world, it was by no means the first when it comes to artistic additions.
The Stockholm metro (known in Swedish as tunnelbana) is claimed to be one of the most beautiful underground systems in the world, helped by the fact that it is also the world’s longest art gallery, with sculptures, rock formations, paintings and mosaics filling the stations.
The 68-mile metro network in Sweden’s capital city has one hundred metro stations, 90 of which are home to public art displays, featuring the works of more than 100 artists.
This year, the Metro is celebrating its 60th anniversary, the first line having opened in 1950. At that time, the metro system was like any other, but soon two artists decided to give the railway its own unique identity.
Siri Derkert and Vera Nilsson began a political debate following research in Paris suggesting that the average Parisian would spend a total of four years travelling on the Metro. The pair believed that by installing art, the railway would have a more positive impact on passengers’ everyday lives. They referred to a statement made by Swedish playwright August Strindberg in the 19th century, that “art cannot continue to be exclusive to just some people, because then it won’t be long-lived”. Strindberg felt that art should not be confined to galleries, but shared with everyone.
To bring that vision to life, a competition
Above: Opened in 1957, T-Centralen is a station at the heart of Stockholm’s metro. It’s the only station on the network where all three lines (red, blue and green) meet. Seventeen artists have created pieces at the station. The most famous is Per-Olov Ultvedt’s work on the blue line depicting blue vines, flowers and silhouettes of workers, which cover the walls and ceiling. The silhouettes were designed as a tribute to the workers who built T-Centralen station. Below: Tekniska Hogskolan on Stockholm’s red line was opened in 1973, named for the Royal Institute of Technology, which is situated nearby. Artist Lennart Mork decorated the station that same year with paintings, technical drawings and mural sculptures conveying themes such as the four classical elements, the universe and advancements in technology.
The art chosen is not just about brightening people’s days but also raising important societal issues.
was held in 1956 to find artists to decorate the city’s metro stations. Twenty-one artists were chosen. By the 1970s, a committee (known as Trafikens Konstnämnd) was set up to manage and select art for the stations, and still does so today.
The art chosen is not just about brightening people’s days but also raises important societal issues, such as women’s rights, inclusivity and deforestation, which was once a significant problem in Sweden.
Operator Storstockholms Lokaltrafik believes that the art helps to make the network safer by reducing crime and vandalism, and that it is easier to navigate because each station has its own unique identity, helping passengers to recognise where they are on the network.
Many other cities around the world, including New York and Moscow, have decorated their underground stations in similar ways. There is clear recognition across the globe that art has a place in our subterranean spaces.
With the increasing emphasis in the UK on developing railway stations into true hubs at the hearts of their communities, perhaps a little artistic inspiration from around the world can provide some new ideas back home.