A giant artwork depicting a whale’s tail has been installed at Stratford station – inspired by the day a sculpture stopped a train from crashing into water in the Netherlands.
Jubilee Line trains from North Greenwich will be terminating in front the peice, by Ahmet Öğüt, a conceptual artist, depicting the tail emerging from the sea.
Öğüt was inspired by the day in November 2020 when a metro train crashed through barriers at the end of the line in Spijkenisse, south of Rotterdam.
The train could have crashed into the water below De Akkers station, but it was caught by a sculpture called Whale Tails.
Öğüt began reflecting on the role art plays in everyday life and whether art can cause transformation, rather than just representing it.
In April, the artist platform New Contemporaries put up posters on the Tube asking passengers for stories about how art had saved or transformed them. The winning entry was Bracelet, by Helen Whitley, a doctor and artist, with the message: “Medicine teaches you to look fast. Art teaches you to look again.”
The artwork, Saved by Art, Saved by the Whale’s Tail, has been installed on the mezzanine level of the station, facing the Jubilee Line platforms. Stratford is one of the UK’s busiest stations, a major interchange for the Tube, Elizabeth Line, DLR, Overground and National Rail with more than 56 million journeys made last year.
Eleanor Pinfield, the head of the Art on the Underground programme, said: “Öğüt’s project connects with the essential quality of art – to save us, literally and figuratively. There is no space like the Tube to reflect on these public stories, reaching millions of Londoners and visitors alike. This commission brings us together as we travel through the city by exploring the profound importance of art to our individual life stories.”
More details about the sculpture are on the Art on the Underground website.
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