This is London Magazine April Edition 2026 - Flipbook - Page 31
Thomas J Price unveiling ‘A Place Beyond’ at V&A East.
Photo: David Parry and PA Media Assignments
MONUMENTAL WORK BY THOMAS
J PRICE AT V&A EAST
The V&A has unveiled London-based
artist Thomas J Price’s monumental new
sculpture, A Place Beyond, outside V&A
East Museum, on East Bank in
Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic
Park, ahead of the museum’s public
opening on 18 April. At 18ft, A Place
Beyond, is Price’s tallest sculpture todate. Welcoming visitors into V&A East
Museum, the sculpture depicts a
fictionalised young person in casual
dress, mobile phone in-hand, looking
out to a horizon full of possibilities.
A Place Beyond is created from an
amalgamation of images, 3D scans and
observations. Constructed in bronze,
using digital technology and ancient
techniques, Price continues to critique
narratives within classical sculpture.
The title, A Place Beyond encourages
viewers to bring their own thoughts,
feelings and lived experiences to the
work. The sculpture acts as a quiet
emblem for change and a rejection of
social or racial profiling to instead create
connection through everyday moments.
The V&A East Youth Collective were
consulted during the process to help
create an important new public artwork
for east London, celebrating the diversity
of the area.
Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East
Director, said: ‘V&A East Museum is for
everyone – I want you to feel that this
space is for you. I’ve long admired
Thomas J Price’s work as an east
London based artist working on an
international scale. His sculptures have
such presence and are meticulously
crafted, yet their power lies in their
perceived ordinariness, and the
relationships they build with their
surroundings and the communities they
share space with. At V&A East Museum,
we celebrate creativity for a changing
world. Thomas’s A Place Beyond
symbolises those historically excluded
from public monuments, challenging
our preconceptions about
representation, perception and identity. I
can’t think of a more powerful work to
greet our visitors on their way into V&A
East Museum.’
V&A East Museum will open with its
first landmark exhibition, The Music is
Black: A British Story, with a sound
experience by Sennheiser. The
exhibition spanning 1900 to the present
day reveals how Black British music has
shaped British culture – and its global
impact – to tell a long-overdue story of
Black excellence, struggle, resilience,
and joy.
LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM
RECORD VISITOR NUMBERS
London Transport Museum welcomed
a record-breaking 449,599 visitors in
2025, its highest annual total since the
Museum opened in Covent Garden in
1980. The surge in visitors follows the
launch of the museum’s refreshed brand
identity. It also reflects the opening of
two new exhibitions exploring London’s
transport heritage, an increased focus on
groups and travel trade engagement, and
the introduction of Friday afternoon
musical performances by up-andcoming classical and jazz musicians.
The museum’s Hidden London guided
tours also welcomed a record-breaking
48,630 ticketholders in 2025, an all-time
high since launching in 2015. For the
first time last year, the tours also opened
to younger visitors aged 10-16. Guests
enjoyed exclusive guided access to
closed-off areas of the Tube network,
from disused stations to hidden filming
locations, secret wartime shelters, and
closed platforms.
The launch of the museum’s new
brand identity in July 2024, under the
leadership of its Director and CEO,
Elizabeth McKay, includes a striking new
spectrum ‘Museum’ roundel which reimagines Edward Johnston’s 100-yearold iconic ‘bullseye’ design. This
updated look celebrates London’s
creativity and the city’s rich transport
design heritage, from pioneering
engineering to world-famous poster art.
A new audience-focused publicity
campaign, developed in-house by the
Museum’s Marketing & PR and Design
teams, has boosted visibility and
reached new visitors across the capital
and beyond.
Elizabeth McKay, Director and CEO
of London Transport Museum, said:
‘Since opening on the Covent Garden
Piazza in 1980, London Transport
Museum has welcomed more than
10 million visitors. Ahead of our 50th
anniversary in 2030, we’re thinking
creatively about what the future will look
like for London Transport Museum,
so watch this space!’
T H I S I S L O N D O N M A G A Z I N E • T H I S I S L O N D O N O N L I N E • w w w. t i l . c o m • @ t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g
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