BT ArtBoxes

This week saw the end of the BT ArtBoxes project -- an artistic celebration of the iconic red telephone box. Just like the Big Egg Hunt earlier this year, artists and designers from around the UK each took a fibreglass replica and transformed it into a unique artwork to be displayed in the streets around London.

I wish I had seen more of the boxes, but with all the rain this month, walking the streets of London hasn’t been the most appealing way to spend my weekends. I admit it -- I'm a fair-weather art enthusiast. I did spend one Sunday afternoon searching out ArtBoxes though, and it was just as much fun as I’d hoped. Despite the torrential showers (which, fittingly enough, we had to dodge into a genuine red phone box to avoid) and the ink from the map I had printed running so badly that I couldn’t see where I’d been and where I was supposed to be heading next, we managed to find around twenty of the boxes. 

Here are a couple of my favourites:

‘Long Distance’ by Benjamin Shine

I’ve been a big fan of Benjamin Shine since his ‘Egg Letter Box’ in the Big Egg Hunt and Taxi Elephant in the Elephant Parade back in 2010, so I was excited to see his contributions to this project. I had read about his ‘Box Lounger’ which unfortunately I didn’t see in person, but this one was a complete surprise as I rounded a corner in Leicester Square. Great fun, and really popular with passers-by of all ages. I love how well the leaf-eating giraffe connects the ArtBox with its surroundings, where other boxes perhaps looked a little out-of-place. Apparently it represents the extending reach of communication through technology, but I think mostly it’s just fun to see a giraffe in a phone box.

‘Cell Phone’ by Bert Gilbert

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love wordplay, so this ArtBox really made me smile. It was also the most tactile of all the ArtBoxes I saw, and it’s always nice to see people interacting with an accessible artwork.


Many of the ArtBoxes are currently on eBay and the rest will be sold at a gala auction at the National Portrait Gallery tomorrow, with all proceeds going to ChildLine for their 25th anniversary.