Daniel Buren Underground

This book tells the story of the first permanent artwork in the UK by the renowned artist Daniel Buren (born 1938), widely considered France’s greatest living artist and one of the most significant contributors to the conceptual art movement. Commissioned by Art on the Underground, Buren has created a new permanent installation at Tottenham Court Road station in the center of London, famously the location of extensive 1980s mosaics by Eduardo Paolozzi.

The artwork, which is set to be completed in late 2016, will become a major feature of the two new entrances and ticket hall of the redesigned station. His interventions play with simple shapes, colors and, of course, his trademark stripes. The result sits firmly within his illustrious practice, and yet presents the public with something wholly new and unexpected. The book includes stunning installation shots of the work in situ, behind-the-scenes photos of the project in progress, architects’ drawings and plans, and the artist’s notes and sketches.

A conversation between Buren and Tim Marlow walk the reader through the Tottenham Court Road installation and discuss it alongside his other public transport works, while a text by Hans Ulrich Obrist places the work in the context of Buren’s wider practice since the 1960s. More than a rare monograph in English on one of the most influential international artists of recent decades, this volume also takes the reader on the fascinating journey from initial artistic concept through to realized physical form in the public realm.