If you didn’t think that there was room for more tubes in central London, it seems as though you would be mistaken. Today sees the arrival of the latest art installation at the Artist’s Garden that sits on the roof of Temple tube station, and it’s basically a big old maze of intricately entangled tubes.
‘Slackwater‘ is the site-specific work, created by Holly Hendry, that will boldly occupy the roof of Temple underground station from now until September 2024. This is Hendry’s first public commission in the capital city and her most expansive to date.
The impressive piece has been constructed using industrial-scale ducting, electricity spools and inflated boat fenders (your guess is as good as mine), and will represent the watery history of its riverside location alongside the abstract rhythms of the Thames and liquid movements within the human body.
This immense sculptural entanglement will ebb and flow across the site’s architecture and will draw together the rhythms of the subterranean, bodily and narrative flows of the city and the people living in it. Plus, it will just be pretty darn cool to look at.
Holly Hendry says: “I have been using the pattern of tide, wave and sound motion diagrams to create a physical rhythm and a surface in the space where things interconnect, tighten, loosen and come undone. I hope to confront and challenge the idea of what sculpture in cities can be – the constant change in how we move and exist in relation to this, something that opposes individual static permanence and hierarchy”.
The installation is by theCoLAB, in partnership with Westminster Council and this project continues theCoLAB’s dedication to commissioning innovative contemporary installations by female artists.
The Artist’s Garden is free to enter and is open daily from 8am with seasonal closing times at dusk.
Temple Station Roof Terrace, WC2R 2PH