Art on the Underground

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Art on the Underground

Welcome to our official page. TfL’s contemporary art programme.

Art on the Underground was launched in 2000 to promote greater understanding of the Tube as a cultural and social environment. Since then, we have been producing and presenting new public artworks for the Underground network. As London's largest public contemporary arts programme, Art on the Underground is a pioneer in commissioning and celebrating contemporary artworks. Millions of people travel

on the Tube every day, and Art on the Underground aims to enrich these journeys, today and for the future.

21/08/2026

📢 We’re hiring a Coordinator (Maternity Cover, 13 months)!

We’re looking for a Coordinator to support Art on the Underground’s programme, helping bring to life the exciting commissions and events planned by the team.

The role spans programme delivery, social media and website management, and technical, financial and administrative support. You’ll work closely with artists, designers, photographers, contractors and TfL colleagues, while helping ensure our work aligns with TfL’s brand and design guidelines.

📅 Deadline to apply: Friday 4 September, 2026

Find the full job description and details on how to apply via the link in our bio.

21/08/2026

AOTU Recommends:

Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care
at Wellcome Collection Wellcome Collection
On till 7 February 2027

Rudy Loewe (b.1987, London) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores histories of resistance and African and Caribbean spiritual practices. For this new commission they are working in large-scale multi-media sculpture for the first time. Creating spaces for participation, rest and reflection, they invite us to collectively reimagine what care could be.

Loewe’s work responds to statistics showing that Black people in the UK face systemic barriers to accessing mentalhealth support when seeking it voluntarily yet are four timesmore likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act.

‘The Congregation’ by Rudy Loewe, commissioned by Art on the Underground, is also still on view at Brixton Underground station till November 2027. Take a look when passing through!

1: Rudy Loewe, ‘And Here We Found One Another’, 2025. Photo: Thomas Farnetti
2. Rudy Loewe, ‘The Congregation’, 2026, Brixton Underground station. Photo: Angus Mill

Rudy Loewe

18/08/2026

“‘Spaghetti Map’ isn’t an ‘A to B’ style map, it’s a map for ideas, inviting children to think like artists and put pen to paper while underground. It’s an invitation to get to know a local artwork, and to look out for others while travelling through the city. Did you know there’s a unique Mark Wallinger artwork in every Underground station?”
- Michael Crowe, Artist and Spaghetti Club founder

‘Spaghetti Map’ is a free interactive leaflet that explores artworks permanently installed on London’s Underground.

From Jacqueline Poncelet’s ‘Wrapper’ – a 1,500m vitreous enamel artwork that covers Edgware Road’s Circle line substation – to Larry Achiampong’s pan-African roundel at Westminster Underground station, ‘PAN AFRICAN FLAG FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS’ ALLIANCE (UNION)’, the new art map for kids features six works commissioned by Art on the Underground since 2012.

Leaflets are available until September 2026 at South Kensington, Battersea, Nine Elms, Westminster, St James’ Park, Edgware Road (Circle line), Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel, Manor House, Arsenal and Blackhorse Road Underground stations. ‘Spaghetti Map’ can also be downloaded from our website. Link in bio.

🍝🫟

04/08/2026

🚨 Attention Kids! ‘Spaghetti Map’ is now available at a station near you. 🍝

This free activity leaflet has been developed by with over 100 primary school children across London, to help you think like an artist while underground 🚊 .

Pick up your free ‘Spaghetti Map’ from Battersea Power station, Nine Elms, Tottenham Court Road, Westminster, South Kensington, St James’s Park, Edgware Road, Whitechapel, Arsenal, Manor House or Blackhorse Road stations.

Find out more via the link in bio!

23/07/2026

🍝🪄✨ Photos from the launch of ‘Spaghetti Map’ in the South Kensington pedestrian tunnel and artist “book signing” event. Several of the artists who contributed to ‘Spaghetti Map’ joined us to celebrate the launch of the new leaflet and poster artworks at South Kensington. We met many other young artists out and about in London who stamped their launch edition leaflets. Thanks to all who celebrated with us!

‘Spaghetti Map’ is a free interactive leaflet that explores artworks permanently installed in London’s Underground. Inviting primary-aged children to think like artists while underground, it is created by Spaghetti Club, an art and creative writing collaboration between artist Michael Crowe and more than 100 children from five London primary schools.

The leaflet is available to download via the link in our bio, or collect from: South Kensington, Battersea, Nine Elms, Westminster, St James’s Park, Edgware Road (Circle line), Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel, Manor House, Arsenal and Blackhorse Road Underground stations.

Get your copy now to avoid disappointment!

22/07/2026

Attention All Kids! ‘Spaghetti Map’ launched today.

‘Spaghetti Map’ is a free interactive leaflet exploring artworks permanently installed on London’s Underground, inviting primary-aged children to think like artists while travelling on the Underground during the 2026 summer holidays.

The leaflet spotlights six artworks, including Larry Achiampong’s 2022 PAN AFRICAN FLAG FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS’ ALLIANCE (UNION) at Westminster station. It is produced by Spaghetti Club, an art and creative writing collaboration between artist Michael Crowe and more than 100 children from five London schools, with additional support from Claudia Sohrab and Kirsty Purnell.

Drawing on references from sunsets and angels to Greek mythology and Ghanaian Akan symbols, Spaghetti Map introduces Art on the Underground commissions while encouraging children to write and draw their own responses. Artwork and writing by the participating primary students are integrated throughout, highlighting humour as a way of connecting with art.

The ‘Spaghetti Map’ leaflet is available to collect from 11 London Underground stations and online. Seven new posters featuring original drawings and writing by primary students will also be on view in the South Kensington Subway from 22 July 2026.

Pick up your ‘Spaghetti Map’ from South Kensington, Battersea, Nine Elms, Westminster, St James’ Park, Edgware Road (Circle line), Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel, Manor House, Arsenal and Blackhorse Road Underground stations!

‘Spaghetti Map’ is generously supported by Reed
Design by Fraser Muggeridge studio
Photos 1,3:
Photos 2,4: Guy Archard

16/07/2026

If you missed ‘Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner’ by Ain Bailey with Elaine Mitchener at Waterloo station, or would like to revisit the work, you can listen to the audio via the project page on our website until December.

Bailey’s first UK public artwork undertakes an autobiographical mapping of London to reflect on the value of London’s cultural spaces and their place in shaping a personal identity. ‘Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner’ is an original 6:30-minute audio work. It features a new libretto paying homage to more than 70 London premises that have been important to Ain Bailey throughout her lifetime, which are no longer open.

The work could be heard at Waterloo Underground station along the travelator connecting the Northern and Jubilee lines from 29 June to 10 July 2026.

Visit the link in bio to listen to ‘Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner’.

15/07/2026

Attention All Kids! ‘Spaghetti Map’ launches on 22 July 2026.

‘Spaghetti Map’ is a free interactive leaflet that explores six artworks permanently installed on London’s Underground network. Launching in the final week of the school summer term, ‘Spaghetti Map’ invites primary-aged children to think like artists while Underground.

This project is produced with Spaghetti Club, an art and creative writing collaboration between artist Michael Crowe and more than 100 children from five schools across London.

From 22 July, leaflets will be available from 11 Underground stations, and seven new posters with original drawings and writing by primary students will be on view in the South Kensington subway!

Produced by Spaghetti Club

Photos by

07/07/2026

Last few days to catch ‘Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner’ by Ain Bailey with Elaine Mitchener.

The audio plays in the travelator connecting Northern and Jubilee lines at Waterloo station, Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm until Friday 10 July.

‘Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner’ undertakes an autobiographical mapping of more than 70 cultural spaces across London that have been important to Ain Bailey over five decades. Reverberating their names through the station, Bailey asks how our shared environments shape community and identity.

Film by

06/07/2026

The 42nd pocket Tube map cover – ‘Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish’ by Ellen Gallagher!

‘Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish’ is inspired by London’s maritime past and the hidden histories beneath the city.

This new work draws on Gallagher’s ongoing research around Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick and parallels with the whaling and triangular trades. ‘Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish’ references Melville’s story of Pip, a young Black cabin boy who falls overboard. Gallagher imagines the underwater world Pip experiences, the silver vertebrate of a whale carcass lying on the seabed forms the central composition and brings together themes of marine life, transatlantic history and memory.

‘Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish’ also draws inspiration from London’s long-buried River Fleet and its ancient wells, such as Clerkenwell and Sadler’s Wells, which mark the Fleet’s course through the city. Invoking the Fleet and its intersection with Tube tunnels, Gallagher visualises the historic and materially layered strata below London and connects it with the experience of travelling underground.

Reflecting on Harry Beck’s iconic 1933 Tube map design, Gallagher’s artwork suggests that travelling through the Underground involves moving through unseen and liminal spaces. For Gallagher, liminal spaces are vital for holding a generosity towards one another in public space.

‘Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish’ invites us to reflect on the ways we navigate both the physical and historical geographies of London as we move through the Underground.

Available to collect in all stations from today!

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http://art.tfl.gov.uk/

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