Celebrating the 150th anniversary of “the tube” – the London Underground with labyrinths. The Guardian reports:
They are not mazes (confusing, exasperating, easy to get lost in) but labyrinths (one way in, one way out) said the artist Mark Wallinger as he revealed details of 270 black and white enamel artworks that will forever hang in London’s tube 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.
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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.
Photos of some of the labyrinths are here.