As the first elements of the Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) system provide a blueprint for Cape Town’s future, public art works in IRT bus stations will commemorate the city’s history and give the system a local character.

The first three IRT stations to be operational will provide bus services for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, and artists are racing to complete art works for each of them before the event.

IRT stations are enclosed by glass walls so most of the art will be printed vinyl designs mounted on large glass panels to create the effect of sandblasting. There will be one artwork in each station, with the prints expected to last between five and ten years, so users can expect the artwork to change periodically.

Managers and engineers working on the IRT have to ensure that maximum value is achieved from every cent in the budget, so the importance of public art in the system was carefully justified.

Roger van Wyk, who is managing this on behalf of the City of Cape Town, says that public art should not just be seen as decorative.

“Public transport needs to be a lifestyle for people, so it’s got to be sexy, and it’s got to be a great experience. But you also need an identity for the system and you need to create a relationship with users so they can own it for themselves.”

In planning art for the IRT, decision-makers looked at public transport systems around the world, where public spaces sometimes become art galleries.

“The Moscow rail system is literally like being inside a palace - there’s a sense of taking public transport very seriously,” says van Wyk. “Another example is the New York Metro Authority, which has a dedicated division to commission artworks all over its subways, and brings on board major international artists.”

The first three artists for the IRT stations were chosen based on a series of proposals after the work was put out to tender. The art works need to be meaningful to the location and deal with the site in a sensitive way, so a key theme running through the pieces is reference to the history of Cape Town, although each one deals with this very differently.

The art at the Cape Town International Airport IRT Station is being produced by acclaimed local artist Sue Williamson, whose work has been exhibited in major international galleries. Key artistic elements in Williamson’s piece are short passages from historical records that discuss details of everyday life in the early Cape colony.

Established Cape Town ceramicist Lovell Friedman, working with 20 people, is producing the most permanent piece of IRT art so far – a series of mosaics at the entrance to the IRT’s Stadium Station that reflects the many people and types of sport played in the Greenpoint area over the centuries.

The largest art work is being designed by young artist Julia Anastasopoulos, who has the two metre high walls on either side of the Civic Centre IRT station as her canvas. Anastasopoulos, who has a background in illustration and set design, is producing detailed cityscapes of Cape Town’s past as well as its future.

For future IRT stations, the City of Cape Town has set up a relationship with the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to involve students in producing public art. Groups of students have already produced concept designs, and the City will continue working with them as new stations roll out.