The new artwork will be lighting up St Pancras throughout 2018.
Face it, unless you’re chugging off to Hogwarts, train stations aren’t the most exciting of places. So it’s always nice when one of London’s terminals tries to spruce things up a little. St Pancras have done just that, and they’ve called in Turner Prize-winning artist Tracey Emin to help. The result is a 20-metre, brightly lit sign, telling commuters that ‘I Want My Time With You’. And whether you think that’s sweet or needy, you’ve got to admit the installation is rather striking.
For starters, that hot pink LED is hard to miss. Emin seems to be going through her neon phase – you know, like Picasso’s blue period, but a hell of a lot brighter – given that she also brought the brightly lit handwriting to The Connaught’s Christmas tree last year. This work was commissioned as part of Terrace Wires, making it the sixth artwork to hang below the station’s famous clock. You can see previous Terrace Wires installations here.
The small matter of 48 million travellers are expected to see I Want My Time With You over the course the next year. Emin explains that the words are meant as a welcome from a lover: “I cannot think of anything more romantic than being met by someone I love at a train station and as they put their arms around me, I hear them say ‘I want my time with you’.”
Having perhaps cast envious side-glances at neighbouring Kings Cross, with its fancy roof, LED tunnel, and rainbow birdcage, St Pancras have bolstered their art credentials with this installation. Which means two things: one, St Pancras is now a neat destination for a perfectly pink ‘gram. And two, Euston needs to seriously up its game.
See it under the station clock in St Pancras’ Barlow Shed, Euston Road, Kings Cross, N1C 4QP. Nearest station is, unsurprisingly, Kings Cross St Pancras.
Featured image: @belkatya