Circulation and the seminal work of William Harvey, one of Gonville & Caius College’s most famous alumni, are celebrated in a new piece of public artwork installed at Cambridge South station.

Network Rail and Great British Railways Anglia (GBR Anglia) on Monday unveiled ‘Together We’, by Turner prize nominee (2006) Mark Titchner. The concept of the work focuses on the circulation and coming ‘together’ of people, with its origins in circulatory systems both medical and in transport. 

This draws on Titchner’s research into Cambridge physician Harvey, who in 1628 revealed the hitherto secrets of blood circulation. Harvey discovered that blood is pumped around the body by the heart in a state of ceaseless motion. Harvey, born in 1578 and living through an extraordinary age of scientific revolution, studied at Caius before moving to the University of Padua to complete his medical studies. 

Cambridge South station is sited adjacent to Addenbrooke’s and Royal Papworth Hospitals, and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The public artwork has been installed on the balustrades of the station’s sweeping, central stairways which have a prominent position above the two entrances.

Titchner said in a video about the artwork: “I wanted to think about something around circulation, movement and the station as being an organ in a wider network. The major inspiration was the work of William Harvey, a physician who developed the first system which described the circulation system in the body. 

“I started looking at William Harvey’s collective writings and I noticed this word ‘together’ kept cropping up. Talking about blood, he might talk about ‘mingling together’ or ‘adhering together’. There was this idea of connection, connectivity, with an angle thinking about the medical. That was the starting point of my idea.”

The first Great British Railways (GBR) branded station in the country, Cambridge South, is expected to welcome 1.8 million passengers annually. It is currently expected to open on Sunday 28 June, 2026.

Photo credit: Network Rail/GBR Anglia