Greenwich Pumping Station, London
Greenwich Pumping Station, London: Optical Flow, Lubna Chowdhary
Year
In development
Client
fereday pollard for Tideway
Artist
Lubna Chowdhary
Service
Commission Management
Location
Greenwich Pumping Station, London
A permanent commission for Greenwich Pumping Station
Artist Lubna Chowdhary was commissioned by Tideway to create a steel artwork for Greenwich Pumping Station. This permanent commission responded to the site-specific narratives outlined in the Tideway Heritage Interpretation Strategy. The cultural theme for the East section, The Shipping Parishes: Gateway to the World, referenced the revolutionary impact of the railway and its social and economic influence.
The ‘cultural meander’ or heritage theme for the East section of the tunnel in the Heritage Interpretation Strategy is ‘The Shipping Parishes – Gateway to the World’. Within this heading, the site’s narrative references the revolutionary impact of the railway and its social and economic impact on society.
Lubna’s artwork was inspired by the site’s history of railway signalling. The adjacent railway, part of the London & Greenwich Railway, was London’s first, connecting London Bridge (opened in 1836) to Greenwich (opened in 1838) and serving short-distance intra-urban travel. The railway’s structure featured 851 semi-circular arches and 27 skew arches or road bridges, making it the longest run of arches in Britain and one of the world’s oldest railway viaducts. At Corbett’s Lane, just east of the site, the first-ever fixed signal for controlling a junction was installed.
Designed to be activated by passing trains, Optical Flow’s primary viewpoint is from the railway and the DLR. It is integrated into the access gates of the cladding surrounding the pressure relief and air inlet structure on the shaft. The artwork comprises a 2-metre-diameter white vitreous enamel circular panel.
As trains pass, the circular disc is revealed between deep fins before being concealed again. Its scale and colour make it visible to pedestrians and cyclists using the adjacent Quietway. Boundary treatments have been carefully designed to keep the site as open as possible, preserving views of the listed pumping station while allowing glimpses of the artwork through the fence.
The artwork provides a subtle visual response to the HIS, offering fleeting views rather than dominating the heritage setting. Its scale, proportions, and materials were carefully considered to align with the surrounding structures, including the listed pumping station and nearby residential developments. Modest in scale and integrated into the site, the artwork, conceived for a location without public access, ensures it remains in harmony with its surroundings.
“On placing the graphic white disc behind the protruding fins of the ventilation structure a fortunate optical interplay occurred when viewed from the nearby DLR line. The three elements together re-enact a simple visual device which playfully mimics the action of the first metropolitan railway signal.”
Contractor - CVB (Costain, VINCI and Bachy Soletanche Joint Venture)
Subcontractor (metalwork) - MacNealy Brown
Fabricator - AJ Wells
For more information on the site’s history see Tideway’s Heritage Interpretation Strategy.
“...this is a subtle response to the brief and the Heritage Interpretation Strategy, which it is hoped will intrigue passing commuters / train passengers and users of the Quiteway.”
Lubna Chowdhary has Master’s degree in Ceramics from the Royal College of Art.
She creates sculptural objects and site-specific artworks, working primarily in ceramics. Based in London, she was shortlisted for the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize and has completed artist residencies at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Camden Arts Centre.
Her work is in a number of permanent public collections including, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, Leicester City Museum; Mead Gallery, Warwick: Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead; Nottingham Castle Museum; Abingdon Museum, Oxfordshire; Oldham Museum and Art Gallery; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; Poole Museum, Fiorucci Foundation, Italy; Kiran Nadar Museum, New Delhi; Gallery of NSW, Sydney; Jameel Foundation, Dubai and M+ Hong Kong. Museum, New Delhi, Gallery of NSW Sydney, Jameel Foundation Dubai and M+ Hong Kong.
For more information see: http://lubnachowdhary.co.uk
For more information see:
www.tideway.london