'Scenes of Contemporary Life' by William Mitchell

'Scenes of Contemporary Life', a sculptural mural designed in 1972 by William Mitchell for Stevenage Development Corporation, installed in 1973.

MATERIALS: Cast-concrete decoration on aggregate background.

PLAN: North and south walls of Park Place underpass, which extends east – west under St George’s Way, linking Park Place and the Town Centre Gardens.

DESCRIPTION: The murals decorate the north and south walls of Park Place underpass, and measure approximately 20 metres in length. The entrances to the underpass are recessed from the path by approximately 1 metre, and are flanked by perpendicular decorated walls, approximately 3 metres in length. The decorative scheme features a band of cast-concrete bas-relief decoration, approximately 1.8 metres in height, with an abrasive-blasted aggregate background over a coved skirting tile. Above the band of decoration, the wall is smooth rendered with late-C20 angled lighting. Each end bears the crest of Stevenage, and the band of decoration includes repeated casts of stylised figures in contemporary dress, buildings, vehicles and machinery. The scheme features: two musicians with hands applauding; a collection of high-rise buildings and scaffolding representing ‘modern building and engineering’; a stack of buses, trucks and cars; a figure holding a placard of the Womens’ Liberation Movement and political demonstrators entwined in embrace; a BBC TV camera and TV screen showing a cricketer bowling; a cricket player in motion bowling; two footballers in a ‘football ballet’, with a stadium audience behind and a woman presenting a trophy; a stack of men’s heads representing a ‘bus queue with vicar and others’; the no.88 bus with passengers; two policemen on parade representing ‘law’; a group of figures in contemporary dress representing the ‘Flower Power’ movement; a pop group with dancers; a United States Air Force rocket; and a Soviet space-landing craft with two seated cosmonauts looking out a central window to the world below. Where figures are in motion, they are shown as being projected a number of times in relief, eg. figures dancing or cricketer bowling. Each cast is generally repeated approximately 3 times on each side, sometimes randomly. Some motifs are only cast once on each side, eg. the space station, bus and political demonstrators.