SOUTHERN OUTFALL: art, engineering and the volunteer spirit
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£20.37 (adult) £7.19 (child) under 5s and carers go freeHeritage meets the arts at Crossness! Ticket also includes Routemaster shuttle bus, railway, full access to the site and exhibitions +more!
Poetry in metal. Science and the sublime. Crossness Pumping Station uniquely fuses art and engineering. Enter this Grade I listed masterpiece and emerge in awe of its grandeur. Surrounded by cast iron painted in vivid reds, greens and creams, where flowers and fruit hang down from sweeping columns, it’s obvious: beauty is baked into Crossness’s DNA.
All this ornamentation is not merely embellishment – the iron is the very structure holding the machinery in place. Here, the arts literally supports engineering.
No one understands this better than Mhairi Vari. Volunteer, resident artist and passionate champion of Crossness, Mhairi has created SOUTHERN OUTFALL, a work which honours the history and majesty of the site, and its new role as a hub of volunteer activity.
Explore connections between our own bodies and London’s unseen sewers; sense how both share rhythms, flow, and purpose. Through immersive video, atmospheric sound and striking visuals, like the vivid orange of workers’ hi-vis vests, you are invited to experience Crossness Pumping Station as a vibrant space shaped daily by dedicated volunteers.
Throughout the work, Mhairi melds material, experience, and place. Meet Crossness, its spirit rekindled. Discover the 'Cathedral on the Marsh', the SOUTHERN OUTFALL.
Featuring Oscar Nearly with Hannah James-Scott, Liam Scully.
Throughout the day, visitors will have the chance to experience the installation in the atmospheric setting of Crossness, speak to Mhairi about her work, and explore the site itself.
- Beer stand provided by Bexley Brewery
- Routemaster bus from/to Abbey Wood Station
- Narrow-gauge RANG railway ride
- Free parking on Bazalgette Way
- The Great Stink Exhibition on Victorian sanitation reform
- See the magnificent Beam Engine House
- Enhance your experience with the free Bloomberg Connects app