Tube celebrates 150th birthday with labyrinth art project
Artist Mark Wallinger reveals details of 270 black and white enamel works that will hang in London's Underground stations
The Labyrinth project is two years in the making and follows an approach by London Underground to fulfil the network's largest ever art commission in what is its 150th birthday year.
Wallinger said he was honoured to get the commission, especially since he was brought up close to the Central line in Chigwell and fondly remembers waving at tube drivers to try to get a toot and then falling asleep every night to the duh-dum-duh-dum of the trains.
"There is something particularly cherishable about the tube in that millions of people put their trust in it every day, millions are hugger-mugger together on it, people fall asleep among strangers – that suggests a special kind of affection. To make something that will be noticeable or become part of the furniture is a great opportunity."
Each station will have an enamel panel measuring 60cm by 60cm with a different labyrinth on it, made by the company which does all the network's other enamel signs. Ten were installed on Thursday at the central London stations St James's Park, Baker Street, Bank, Embankment, Green Park, King's Cross St Pancras, Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Victoria and Westminster.
By the summer all 270 will be in place and Wallinger admitted it may bring out the geek in tube enthusiasts as he has numbered them according to the route taken on the 2009 record breaking Tube Challenge.
The Tube Challenge is the name accepted by the Guinness Book of Records for those keen, eccentric people who attempt to visit every station in the fastest possible time. So when Andi James, Martin Hazel and Steve Wilson set a record (overtaken in 2011) of 16 hours, 44 minutes and 16 seconds they began at the end of the Metropolitan line in Chesham and finished at Heathrow Terminal 5.
Wallinger said he was inspired by tube icons – the tube map designed by Harry Beck and the network's familiar roundels. An early idea was to use circular facing mirrors on platforms to create infinitive reflections. "That was impractical as it turns out," he said. "But I was wedded to the idea of circles."
(
read more)
