Academic’s artwork on display at Middlesbrough station

Passengers and visitors to Middlesbrough Station can now see an artwork created by a Teesside University academic which celebrates the history and heritage of the Victorian station.

'And ever again…' is an installation produced by Catherine Bertola, a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art in the University’s School of Arts & Creative Industries, and is located within the ticket hall of the station.

The artwork is a two-channel film which flickers between the past and the present reflecting and celebrating the 147 year-old history of the station.

It forms part of the Most Creative Station programme at Middlesbrough Railway Station delivered by Navigator North, working in partnership with Middlesbrough Council and station operators TransPennine Express.

The programme includes a series of artist commissions and a residency which aims to animate the station with site specific artworks, creative interventions and opportunities for people to be creative.

‘And ever again…’ is on display until the end of May and reveals how, while much has changed over time, many things remain the same.

Archival and contemporary photographs are woven together, dissolving in and out of focus through a haze of steam.

Still images are interspersed with filmed cutaways of architectural features that define the distinct visual identity of the station, drawing attention to the overlooked craftsmanship and embedded history.

Steam is a central motif within the film, a direct reference to the origins of the railway, and the power behind the early engines that drove the development of industry in the late 19th century.

The steam imagery is also reflected in a plume of steam which wraps around the surrounding glass panelling and windows of the ticket hall,

This is based on early etchings of steam trains and made to appear like traditional etched glass windows, a subtle intervention that responds to the changing light conditions of the space.

Catherine Bertola has more than 25 years’ experience designing site-specific artwork which has been commissioned and exhibited nationally and internationally with organisations such as Leeds Museums and Galleries, V&A Museum, Bronte Parsonage Museum, Museum of Arts and Design (New York) and several National Trust properties.

To accompany ‘And ever again…’, she has also produced a short newspaper which passengers can pick up at the station within which are printed many of the photos appearing in the installation.

Catherine said: “When making this artwork I was really interested in how people use the station.

“It’s a place that, for many people, is used regularly but they never really look at it and don’t know much about it.

“I wanted to show that, despite being a place of transit, it is also something of permanence which in many respects looks and feels and is used in very much the same as when it was first built.”

Most Creative Station forms part of a larger project to make Middlesbrough the Most Creative Town in the UK, after the Middlesbrough Cultural Partnership and Middlesbrough Council successfully bid for £4.25m from the Cultural Development Fund in 2022, administered by Arts Council England.

---