This poster is part of a wider project called ‘What is the city but the people?’ undertaken by Art on the Underground, the official arts program of London Underground, whose aim is to engage with the public by presenting contemporary art in the Tube.
The project ‘What is the city but the people?’ gravitated on a booklet of the same title compiling famous quotes; the title itself being a line from a Shakespearean tragedy.
The booklet was passed on to train drivers for them to read to customers through the trains’ PA system. The point being, I guess, to raise a smile and even some philosophical questions among the Tube’s passengers.
Pleasant as it is to be greeted by the Mahatma’s wisdom and encouraged to smile –and maybe to think too– for a purpose different of buying, the Tube’s sponsored art initiatives are inescapably that: sponsored. Thus, to some extent they are subject to London Underground’s agendas and will always work to create a positive view of the Tube amongst its customers; lo, the cause of marketing.
The project ‘What is the city but the people?’ gravitated on a booklet of the same title compiling famous quotes; the title itself being a line from a Shakespearean tragedy.
The booklet was passed on to train drivers for them to read to customers through the trains’ PA system. The point being, I guess, to raise a smile and even some philosophical questions among the Tube’s passengers.
Pleasant as it is to be greeted by the Mahatma’s wisdom and encouraged to smile –and maybe to think too– for a purpose different of buying, the Tube’s sponsored art initiatives are inescapably that: sponsored. Thus, to some extent they are subject to London Underground’s agendas and will always work to create a positive view of the Tube amongst its customers; lo, the cause of marketing.
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Art on the Underground: "There is more to life than increasing its speed"
Wood Green Underground Station
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