Lost Collection: Art left on Public Transport

Do you doodle or sketch on the Tube? Ever left one of your drawings behind? If so, you might see it in a Hoxton gallery next month. Friday 3rd June 2011 sees the opening of a new exhibition made up of art that's been left unclaimed on the London Underground, buses, London Overground trains and Black Cabs.


TfL opened up its Lost Property Office to KK Outlet who have chosen 60 drawings, paintings and photography left behind on London's public transport to display in their gallery.

KK Outlet said: "The anonymous nature of the work invites a creative interpretation from the viewer of the content and inspiration behind the work. Who were these creators? What were they trying to communicate and most importantly do they have any talent?

We’re inviting the public to cast their critical eye over this collection, discover an unsung artistic talent or even reclaim a lost masterpiece that was left on the TfL network."

The Lost Collection Exhibition runs from 3rd – 30th June 2011 at KK Outlet, 42 Hoxton Square, N1 6PB. Mon – Fri: 9am-6pm and Sat: 12pm-5pm.

TfL’s Lost Property Office is one of the largest and busiest in the UK. It first opened its doors in 1933 and currently handles around 200,000 items a year that are left behind across London’s transport network.


London Transport Museum's Community Curator, Jen Kavanagh, recently got a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes at the TfL's Lost Property Office.

She said "When we went down the store room was packed with items, all clearly labelled and neatly arranged in numbered zones. The staff work very efficiently – we watched as a call came in from the customer point upstairs, requesting an object be sent up for return. It took the staff less than a minute to locate the object and send it up in the goods lift, making for happy customers.

The LPO store also houses some more bizarre objects which have never been re-claimed, including false teeth, a grandfather clock, a stuffed fox and some prosthetic limbs. There were also single shoes, crutches and walking sticks, which make you wonder how the owners didn’t notice they had left such objects behind!"

There's a great Flickr set of pictures including hundreds of lost bags & the caseload of false teeth. Geoff Marshall is also making a film about what goes on behind the scenes, which will feature many weird and wonderful stories about what is lost and found on London's transport. The finished film will be added to London Transport Museum's collection. More on their blog.

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