Elise Else

1 Liverpool Street, London EC2M 7AW

Open: May – November 2026

The window captures the public’s imagination on a busy thoroughfare. Its scale and position create a theatrical presence. The installation draws viewers into another world beyond the glass, where dynamic, highly graphic forms construct spatial narratives from the lost histories of the site: a hand grips a globe, teetering on a coil of rope, connecting a silk wheel, a bone, a takeaway sandwich, a silver coin. Objects merge within concrete-grey liquid, their texture like urban bricks, suspended above structures resembling railway tracks on a sculptural floor mimicking railway gravel. A hand-painted backdrop further intensifies this cacophonous spectacle of sculptural forms.

The window offers a sculptural opportunity to communicate the history of its London site. The artwork combines themes that shaped the area, linking to the Spitalfields Roundels commissioned in the 1990s to commemorate its cultural heritage. Several original roundels have been lost. The sculpture retells their stories for new audiences: nineteenth-century Jewish soup kitchens; Bengali culinary culture; Huguenot weavers; a sixteenth-century artillery ground, become visual motifs. Together they form a sculptural topography, elevated on structures referencing the Victorian railways that further transformed the area. A QR code connects the sculpture to historical information and a map of walks.