Holborn Viaduct Hoardings
2024-2027 Futurecity

‘Intersections’, a newly commissioned artwork for the Holborn Viaduct development by artist Harold Offeh, is the City of London’s longest artwork, totalling just over 100 meters. It has been designed in collaboration with the local community, London Museum and the Museum of London Archaeology.

The work is inspired by the layers of history and artefacts uncovered by the Museum of London Archaeology team during the excavation of the site, as well as those documented in the London Museum collections.

A guided walking tour between Golden Lane Estate, Smithfield, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and Holborn Viaduct, documented the environment by taking rubbings, photographs, and engaging in discussions. Using the material collected on the walk, participants then produced a series of collages and risograph prints at Hato Press that Offeh then incorporated into the larger artwork alongside photographs, scanned works and digital collage.

The resulting artwork explores the historical and cultural connections that have shaped the Holborn Viaduct site over thousands of years. With links to burials, trade, and queer history, it is a site that has been defined by its proximity to the City of London; being located on the margins has meant it provided a refuge for migrants and the marginalised.

“The process of developing Intersections as artwork has been about trying to respond directly to the history of the site as a meeting point of two historical features, the Fleet river and the Holborn Viaduct. This highly collaborative project has facilitated many conversations with regards to the history and profile of this area of London that has since the Roman invasion, has sat on the edge of the city and been a haven for those trying to access opportunities and freedoms. As the lead artist, I’ve been lucky to speak to the archeologists and curators from the Museum of London and creatively explore and respond to the site with an amazing group of community participants whose work is integrated as a layer within the work. Intersections tries to bring these many layers of history into conversation with each other. People encountering the work can engage with the overlapping and intersecting points in time from Roman funeral artefacts found on site to queer clubbing histories from the 1990s. The work offers visitors the opportunity to think through the connections in history that speak to how we might sit with the complexity of historical narratives that shape our present and future.”
Harold Offeh, artist

“Harold has created an artwork that is grounded in the histories Holborn Viaduct, from the past to present, that capture a visual snapshot of people and place. Artist led workshops with local community members were vital to the process, offering moments of sharing and creativity. The resulting artwork is a vibrant collage of personal stories; weaving together images of objects and research materials to create an archive of the evolving local area. This is the first of Harold’s art commissions, as artist-in-residence for the Holborn Viaduct development, and we are very excited to be working with the design team to bring the next commissioning phase to fruition.”
Sinéad McCarthy, Curatorial Director, Futurecity

The artwork was commissioned by Futurecity’s Curatorial Director Sinéad McCarthy on behalf of Royal London Asset Management in collaboration with Avison Young, Hogan Lovells and Multiplex.

Photos: Katie Edwards