Image

Over the last 50 years, Milton Keynes has developed an excellent reputation for commissioning public art.

The city now boasts over 270 artworks. The culture team leads on and supports the commissioning of new works and works alongside The Public Art Trust to care for and conserve existing works. 

Future commissions

All future commission opportunities are advertised on our social media channels and via the Arts Jobs &  Arts News website.

Public Art – current and recent commissions

Walk With Your Dreams by Yinka Ilori 

Image

This new large scale floor mural by British Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori MBE commissioned by Milton Keynes Development Partnership marks the re-opening of Station Square following a large-scale redevelopment project to improve the public realm.  Inspired by Nigerian textile patterns alongside unique design of MK and the communities that call the city’s their home, this is the largest commission by Ilori to date. 

Walk With Your Dreams introduces a vibrant, playful, colourful pattern to the public realm in Station Square. We recognise that this may cause some pedestrians distress due to the striking, visually loud nature of the artwork. So we have developed a ‘visually quiet’ route around the Square which enables pedestrians to reach the city centre without engaging with the artwork. Download or view the alternative route map. 

Alan Turing - Public Art Commission

Milton Keynes City Council appointed Nick Ryan Studio in February 2025 to deliver The Alan Turing Tribute Commission. Full details about the artwork project and how the public can get involved will be shared later in 2025. 

To read more about the artist and see examples of his work, click Nick Ryan Studio

The Modernist Glade by Hayatsu Architects and Tue Greenfort

The Modernist Glade was a temporary public art project devised by Hayatsu Architects and artist Tue Greenfort, with curator and producer Aldo Rinaldi.

Inspired by the drawings of Helmut Jacoby which were originally commissioned by the MK Development Corporation in the late 1960s to imagine Milton Keynes, this commission celebrated the idea of ‘The Forest City’.

Taking inspiration from MK’s unique grid-road system, 48 trees were installed marking out a new grid within Station Square. At the end of the project, the trees were  replanted throughout MK for all to enjoy.  A wild flower meadow also forms part of the artwork; a new beehive sculpture provides a new home for bumble bees and new seating provides somewhere to rest. 

The commission has also helped to inform the permanent new designs for Station Square being delivered in 2025, with its new meadow planting, impactful treescape and proposed new artwork by celebrated British – Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori.

This new large-scale installation is titled 'Walk With Your Dreams', which will blend Nigerian textile patterns with the city's grid system. Commissioned by Milton Keynes City Council and MKDP, and features vibrant, colourful flooring that also serves to direct pedestrians from the station to the city centre.

The Modernist Glade is a temporary public art project devised by Hayatsu Architects and artist Tue Greenfort, with curator and producer Aldo Rinaldi.

Inspired by the drawings of Helmut Jacoby which were originally commissioned by the MK Development Corporation in the late 1960s to imagine Milton Keynes, commission celebrates the idea of ‘The Forest City’.

Taking inspiration from MK’s unique grid-road system, 48 trees have been installed marking out a new grid within the Square. At the end of the project, the trees will be replanted throughout MK for all to enjoy.

A wild flower meadow also forms part of the artwork; a new beehive sculpture provides a new home for bumble bees and new seating provides somewhere to rest. 

Future Fossil by Something & Son in Oxley Park (concept design stage)

Image

In 10,000 years, what will be left behind?

Something & Son’s work Fossil imagines a future landscape where civilisation excavates the ground to reveal a still life of early 21st life captured in fossilised form. The work depicts a house from Oxley Park, a typical modern-day neighbourhood in Milton Keynes, that has fossilised through the passage of time, being enveloped by rising water, encroaching deserts and manmade materials that nature has processed and reformed. The house has slowly decayed from the inside out leaving behind an imprint of the Anthropocene era.

The sculpture will be the size a house and by drawing on the city’s pioneering recycling schemes will be made from the materials of time – plastic, concrete and aluminium.

A public programme, curated by Something and Son and delivered in collaboration with the community will take place for the first 12 months, following the artwork's anticipated delivery in Autumn 2022.

Alphonso by Sarah Staton

Image

Inspired by interactions with the community and the heritage of the local area, Staton has designed a 3-sided archway clad with bespoke blue and white tiles on one side and pattern brick on the other which references the former brick making industry in the area.

The sculpture offers visitors a seat to enjoy the view across the local landscape.

Archive of past commissions

A full archive of past commissions and map of public artworks located throughout Milton Keynes is currently being developed.