SOUTHERN OUTFALL - a site-wide work by Mhairi Vari at Crossness Pumping Station

About

Poetry in metal. Science and the sublime. Crossness Pumping Station uniquely fuses art and engineering. Enter this Grade I listed masterpiece and emerge in awe of its grandeur. Surrounded by cast iron painted in vivid reds, greens and creams, where flowers and fruit hang down from sweeping columns, it’s obvious: beauty is baked into Crossness’s DNA.

All this ornamentation is not merely embellishment – the iron is the very structure holding the machinery in place. Here, the arts literally supports engineering.

No one understands this better than Mhairi Vari. Volunteer, resident artist and passionate champion of Crossness, Mhairi has created SOUTHERN OUTFALL, a work which honours the history and majesty of the site, and its new role as a hub of volunteer activity.

Explore connections between our own bodies and London’s unseen sewers; sense how both share rhythms, flow, and purpose. Through immersive video, atmospheric sound and striking visuals, like the vivid orange of workers’ hi-vis vests, you are invited to experience Crossness Pumping Station as a vibrant space shaped daily by dedicated volunteers.

Throughout the work, Mhairi melds material, experience, and place. Meet Crossness, its spirit rekindled. Discover the 'Cathedral on the Marsh', the SOUTHERN OUTFALL.

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Featuring Oscar Nearly with Hannah James-Scott, Liam Scully.

Throughout the day, visitors will have the chance to experience the installation in the atmospheric setting of Crossness, speak to Mhairi about her work, and explore the site itself.

• Beer stand provided by Bexley Brewery
• Routemaster bus from/to Abbey Wood Station
• Narrow-gauge RANG railway ride
• Free parking on Bazalgette Way
• The Great Stink Exhibition on Victorian sanitation reform
• See the magnificent Beam Engine House
• Enhance your experience with the free Bloomberg Connects app

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‘Southern Outfall’ is the name for the confluence of sewer lines from across south London—where things come together and continue on.

It is this cycle of energy, coalescing and redistributing within a system, that has engaged Mhairi Vari for the last three years as a volunteer and resident artist at Crossness while pursuing her PhD in music and sound arts through the University of Greenwich.

Mhairi explains, “The abstract and playful works that constitute SOUTHERN OUTFALL go in some way to explore and celebrate that huge collective effort—marking 40 years of voluntary activity here, in this the 160th year since the beam engines began operation.”

In SOUTHERN OUTFALL, Mhairi examines her relationship to Crossness through the overlapping lenses of the physical space and volunteer action essential to its continuing purpose. Her long-term dedication has allowed her to engage deeply with Crossness—not just as a historical institution, lost in time, but as a dynamic entity, continually redefined. Using video installations, sound design, and sculpture, incorporating visual cues like the volunteers' hi-vis orange workwear and drawing parallels with the flowing movements found in tai chi, Mhairi offers a fresh interpretation of Crossness, shaped by her personal experiences with the site.

SOUTHERN OUTFALL invites us to step into the microworld of enzymes oozing around our gut, before entering the macroworld of the sewer system. All this is brought into focus through generation upon generation of human activity which Mhairi unites amongst the pumps, ornate ironwork and rust of Crossness Pumping Station.

Crossness. What an incredible life! Born in crisis; built as a saviour to the health and well-being of Londoners, the pumping station was a place of beauty where art and industry fused. Then, after 80 years’ service, it was left to decay.

Mhairi’s practice leads us into a space reconfigured anew. In this melding of material, experience and place, we encounter Crossness again. Now, through the hands of volunteers, it stirs once more—not with the roar of industry, but with the persistent pulse of care. Their devotion rekindles its spirit, transfiguring its service into something living and sublime. 

SOUTHERN OUTFALL is a sensitive exploration and celebration of all therein. Please join us in discovering the ‘Cathedral on the Marsh’, the SOUTHERN OUTFALL.