Our Victoria Embankment Foreshore site is one of the most visible Tideway sites in the heart of London, opposite the London Eye.
As well as creating a vital connection to the new tunnel through a 51m-deep and 13m-wide shaft, our team have created a new piece of embankment where Londoners can connect with the River Thames.
Richard Wentworth
Art Summary
Richard Wentworth's inspiration is London. He is fascinated by aspects of the capital's secret nature with a close visual reading of post-boxes, railings, CCTV masts and wing mirrors. His contention was that the city – indeed, the country – has never been very good at being glamorous, and is at heart a make-do-and-mend culture.
The artist’s response has been to create interventions which represent the everyday but can take on a range of meaning and uses in this specific context. The artworks are intended for use and have a dual function as seating and barriers. The artist has developed his initial proposal for a stack of cast bronze sandbags to act as informal seating or perches to enable people to sit and look out across the river and creating an opportunity for gathering. The artworks will be cast from actual sand filled hessian sandbags and cast as a single stack. The foundry will authentically be able to recreate the hessian texture of the bags.