Interactive underground

By April 14, 2011 3:43 pm January 29, 2015 6:11 pm

So us Londoners may have noticed the odd refurbishment occurring on the London Underground. Hands up who gets stuck outside Oxford Circus on their commute home each evening?

Thankfully, a more interactive age has come to pass in the depths below, keeping our minds stimulated before we board a crowded train.

Projection screens showcasing advertisements, moving images and interactive art are increasingly prevalent on the platform walls.

And many are using this modern medium to make their work public; for example, next week will see the launch of the London Transport Museum’s digital advertising campaign devised by King & Tuke.

On a more creative note, this week public art gallery Art Below is carrying out their first digital takeover of media space on the Underground to mark its fifth anniversary. Art in Motion is a series of short unconventional films that track the process of different artists producing their own work.

Projected on to Westbound Central line platform at Liverpool Street commuters can watch a variety of unusual, if not a little eccentric, artists create their masterpieces, including Slinkachu, a London-based artist create his very small street installations, stage visual designer Max Hattler (Profile DW 6 January), Schoony who’s inspired by his work in special effects and prosthetic departments and many more.

Ben Moore, founder of Art Below, explains his thoughts behind AIM, ‘I wanted to display a wide scope of different creative backgrounds and demonstrate visually the process the different artists go through to create their finished work.’

Unfortunately a couple of changes have occurred to the programme, architect Francis Terry’s who spent a whole day treating a wall in Leake Street was flagged up because of London Underground’s anti-graffiti policy (oo-er). However, Terry’s role in ’The Three Classicists’, that also include architects Ben Pentreath and George Saumarez Smith, film ‘Turbo charged Neo Classicism’ produced by Art Below last May, will be showcased in its place.

On the 19 April, to celebrate Art Below’s fifth year, a launch party will be held at Covent Garden’s Future Gallery. The Art in Motion show reel will be displayed, of course, via projection screen and there will be VJing performances from the artists involved in the project, as well as beautiful portraiture from contemporary artist Johan Anderson Stolen Faces exhibition.