Art on the Underground, 1986-2020: contemporary legacies of a modernist project

tfl brixton crosby

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, 'Remain, Thriving', 2018. Photo: GG Archard. Commissioned by Art on the Underground. © Njideka Akunyili Crosby Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London / Venice

 

Applications are invited for an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award at The Open University, in partnership with Transport for London (TfL).  

This fully-funded studentship is available from October 2025. Further details about the value of an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP award are available on the DTP’s studentships page. [If you have secured additional funding from the partner organisation or other source, please detail here.] 

Closing date: 7th January 2025 (midday UK time)

Project overview 

Working with Art on the Underground in London and the Open University, this project will evaluate contemporary experimental art projects on the Underground, generating new understandings of the legacy of Frank Pick, first Chair of the London Underground. It will ask in what ways is the artistic vision and programme developed by Pick still active within TfL today, and how can it shape future possibilities for the role of a contemporary art programme within a transport business? To explore these issues the project will focus on three sub-questions: 

  • What relationships can be discerned between the complex nature of public art today, within the project’s parameters of 1986-2020, and the historical legacy of Frank Pick’s programme of work with designers and artists in the early twentieth century? 

  • How has Pick’s commitment to modernist progress shaped a curatorial vision for Art on the Underground, at a time of profound geo-political and social transformations and against the backdrop of London? 

  • At a time of increased interest in the conflicted states of historical public statues and diversity in the public realm how far has the public art programme of Art on the Underground stayed relevant to the city it serves, learning from the Pick legacy of a progressive and future looking attitude to art and design on the Underground network? 

 

Sources 

The student will be expected to spend significant time with the collections at the London Transport Museum (LTM), its archives and store; the Transport for London (TfL) Corporate Archives; and working with the Art on the Underground team at TfL’s head office in London. Additional archive visits across the UK will also be required as part of the project research. 

Methods and impact  

This comparative and critical study will combine art historical and archival research into London Underground’s art and design programme and history. Whilst it is expected that the successful candidate will nominate appropriate theoretical frameworks as part of their approach to the project, it is anticipated that the research will be theorised through art historical and cultural theory, utilising post-colonial and other methodologies. The student will have the opportunity to develop a public outcome for the project, either in the form of contributing to a network-wide poster campaign, station leaflets, or sharing their research with a wider audience via a public talk and/or other event.   

 

Supervision 

The candidate will be co-supervised between the Open University and TfL. Professor Clare Taylor and Dr Samuel Shaw, from the Department of Art History will supervise from the OU, and Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground, will take the supervisory role on behalf of TfL. 

Clare Taylor is a specialist in material culture and design, and has been lead supervisor for a number of CDAs, including with the National Railway Museum and the Sanderson archive. Sam Shaw specialises in art and visual culture in Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Eleanor Pinfield has led Art on the Underground since 2014 and oversees the artistic programme and strategy, having formally worked at Tate Modern.  

The successful candidate will have access to all Open University doctoral training opportunities in addition to a range of professional expertise and training opportunities with the partner institution.Training in both archive handling methods and in accessing online catalogues will be provided by TfL Corporate Archives. S/he will also be encouraged to attend the 3-week training TfL course on Oral History to assist in conducting interviews (see details below). S/he will have access to TfL’s Art on the Underground Curatorial team and to the artworks store. The team will support the student to meet with and interview the various colleagues, partners and artists involved in the programme both past and present. In addition, The London Transport Museum (LTM) teams at the collections store (in Acton) and museum (in Covent Garden) will provide training in object handling. 

How to apply 

This studentship is based in the Department of Art History. Applicants will ideally have a good relevant first degree in the Humanities and a relevant Master’s degree (or will have completed their Master’s degree by the start of the project). Applicants should meet the eligibility criteria for Open-Oxford-Cambridge (OOC) AHRC studentships. 

In making an application you are applying to both the OOC DTP and to the OU. This means you will need to complete two application forms. Please read OU guidance and OOC guidance before completing the application forms  

  • You are reminded that you must sign the form and should give the names and addresses of two academic referees and their institutional email addresses who are willing to comment on your academic achievements to date and on your potential for undertaking research. (Please check that your referees will be available to be contacted during the application period.)    

We recommend that you make contact/apply at the earliest stage so that we can work with you to maximise your potential for a successful application. Please note you are responsible for making sure that all required documents, including references, are submitted before midday 7th January 2025 and meet the University’s requirements. If your application is submitted late, and/or it is incomplete, it will not normally be assessed. 

Your Research Proposal should (i) respond to the project, by discussing how you understand it and what your particular interests might be in developing it; (ii) indicate how your experience of study and any other relevant professional experience informs your response to the research project; (iii) outline what you identify as the opportunities for your own career development.