Down the tubes

The Tube, the Underground – but never the Subway – is almost inseparable from London itself. The oldest underground system in the world – services began in 1863 with the Metropolitan Railway, most of which is now part of the Hammersmith & City line – it’s a huge part of Londoners’ lives. Where would we be without the Tube? Waiting at a rained-out bus shelter, that’s where. With 408km (253miles), 12 lines, 275 served stations (there are some ‘ghost’ stations that are no longer in service) and over 3million passengers every day, the London Underground is the third-biggest metro system in the world (behind Tokyo and New York). It would take a lifetime to write about the whole of the Tube, and almost as long to read about it. So instead I shall tell you about three stations that are my favourites for very different reasons.

First up is Gloucester Road. The station, which opened in 1906, is grade II listed and the original station building is still largely intact. The great thing about it, though, is the way it is used as a space to display art. Five-metre-high niches in the wall of the disused platform 4 have been transformed into an underground gallery to exhibit a series of installations commissioned by Platform for Art, London Underground’s public art programme.



What a laugh: Life is a Laugh is a new commission from Brian Griffiths, running from July 2007







London Underground has a long history of promoting art and design, beginning in 1908 when Frank Pick commissioned leading artists of the day, including Man Ray and Graham Sutherland, to work on London Underground poster campaigns. Then there is the distinctive red, white and blue logo, the typography and, of course, Harry Beck’s iconic map. It’s great the London Underground Ltd is carrying on this tradition with Platform for Art. And if you happen to be heading that way, keep an eye out – you might catch sight of a masterpiece.

I like Tottenham Court Road station for the spectacular mosaics that cover the walls; they really are very beautiful. There are more than 1,000 square metres of murals, installed during the early 1980s and designed by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. The murals feature in the ticket hall, the escalators, the rotunda and on the platforms of the Central and Northern lines, the two lines that serve the station, and each is different. The frenetic design on the Central line platforms reflects the station’s position close to Tottenham Court Road’s large concentration of hi-fi and electronics shops, and Paolozzi’s signature appears in several places in the murals. Those millions of little coloured tiles really brighten up the long escalator journey to ground level.


Platform art: Eduardo Paolozzi was a Scottish sculptor and artist, he was knighted in 1989





The station was also used for a scene in An American Werewolf in London.

Westminster is my favourite station. The architecture is amazing – like something from a stark sci-fi movie. The new station was designed by Michael Hopkins & Partners in the 1990s when it was decided to join up the District & Circle line with the much deeper Jubilee, London Underground’s newest line. It’s a futuristic vision of concrete, glass and huge steel beams and buttresses, which are actually the foundations of Portcullis House. Travelling up (or down) the escalators is simply breathtaking, it’s worth travelling from the District & Circle line to Jubilee just for the experience.


Future shock: The Piranesian-style design creates a sci-fi fantasy

In another film-related aside, the station is used the forthcoming adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Art attack

Yesterday marked the beginning the Royal Academy’s 239th Summer Exhibition. Held annually since the RA was founded in 1768 under the patronage of King George III, the exhibition is the largest open contemporary art show in the world. Works from unknown artists are hung alongside those of famous Royal Academicians such as Tracy Emin and German artist Anselm Kiefer. Other eminent artists on show this year include Michael Craig-Martin, David Hockney and Jasper Johns. Any artist may enter work for the show and the majority of pieces are for sale.

Around 13,000 works were submitted this year, and it is the job of the committee, whose annually rotating membership of practising artists curates the show, to whittle this down to a more manageable number. Around 1,200 works are displayed, and one of the selection methods dates back to the RA’s earliest days. Two wands, one marked ‘D’ and one ‘X’ are used. Any work that manages three ‘D’s (for doubtful) make it through to the next round, while any which get the more ominous ‘X’ are returned to the artist.

This year’s theme was light, prompting the introduction of a whole gallery dedicated to photography. The works on display, however, will encompass a wide range of artistic media, including printing, printmaking, sculpture and architecture. Other features will be a gallery of works by invited artists, which will be curated by sculptor and Turner prize winner Tony Cragg RA. As per tradition there will also be a gallery celebrating the works of Royal Academicians who have died over the past year. This year Kyffin Williams RA and Sandra Blow RA will be remembered.

A highlight of the show will be Hockney’s 40ft scenic painting of Yorkshire, which will be the largest piece on display. The creations of the former Turner Prize nominees Tracey Emin and Issac Julien will feature alongside American artists Johns, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg and Chuck Close. Edith Devaney, the head of the Summer Exhibition at the RA, said she was delighted by this year’s line-up. "There's nothing quite like it in the world,” she said.


Light fantastic: Jeppe Hein, Neon Mirror Cube. Mirror, stainless steel, neon tubes, transformers, 100 x 100 x 100 cm

The show runs until 19 August and tickets cost £7, including a list of works with details of every exhibit in the show. See www.royalacademy.org.uk for more information.

The saga of the slides - Part 2

It was a cold, gloomy Monday afternoon in February and I was sure I would get to go on the slides this time. No school holidays, people in work and a couple of months to go before the tourist season would begin in earnest, plus the intallation had been in place for a few months so surely, I thought, the interest had waned somewhat.

As you've no doubt guessed, I couldn't have been more wrong. I arrived to almost exactly the same scene as my previous trip to Tate Modern - queues to the door and families milling around waiting for their turn on these magnificent slides. People had come well prepared too; newspapers, books, drinks and snacks were all being consumed. These were no novice queue-ers, they knew exactly what they were doing and I felt quite the innocent abroad. I had no idea that queing could be such serious business.

There was no way I would get on the installation this time either - I simply hadn't put in the preparation. So I treated myself to some books from Tate Modern's wonderful shop and took some photos, and then went on my not so merry way. Heading back to London Bridge, however, I came across two attractions I'd never heard of before - the Kirkaldy Testing Museum and the Ring, London's first boxing ring, both of which are likely to appear in future postings here. So all wasn't lost, and I was reminded once more just how full of surprises London really is.

In praise of London

I apologise, but this is going to be an unashamed devotion. The sun is shining and I'm full of the joys of spring. And I love London. I've loved it ever since I first started coming here when I was young and my parents would bring me and my brother for the day. My dad would drive us down, either parking at Redbridge underground station and catching the Central Line to Oxford Circus or leaving the car in The Regent's Park and walking along Regent's Street. At the time it amazed me that a park could be big enough to park a car in. I lived in Cambridge and the biggest park I knew of was Midsummer Common, which was more suited to cows than cars. You can imagine my astonishment when I found out The Regent's Park was also big enough to house London Zoo.

When I first moved to London I lived near Richmond Park, and it didn't even faze me that here was a park even bigger than The Regent's. How worldly wise I'd become. But it did, and still does at times, amaze me that I now lived in this sprawling metropolis. I am still moved by the view coming out of Charing Cross, especially in the evening: The Oxo Tower and the Haywood Gallery all lit up, Tate Modern outlined against a purple and red sky and, further to the left, the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. It's really quite breathtaking.

London's West End is renowned across the world, attracting the biggest names of stage and screen, while fringe theatre is a hotbed of new writing and acting talent. The galleries and museums are both grand eclectic - from the wonderful British Museum to the tiny but always interesting photography exhibitions at Proud Galleries.

We have huge, beautiful Royal Parks. We have some of the world's most stunning architecture, from just about every period of history. From the 1,000-year-old White Tower to Norman Foster's strangely beautiful Gherkin.

Culture, history, art, beauty, green spaces - London has it all.

And so ends my eulogy.

Saga of the slides - one woman's battle to ride the tubes

Art attack: Tate Modern
is the site of a new
sliding installation







Tate Modern's Unilever series has been phenomenally successful. This is a series of annual commissions sponsored by Unilever for Tate Modern's cavernous Turbine Hall. Unilever has been sponsoring these commissions since 2000, when the gallery opened, and they have generated a huge amount of interest. Olafur Eliasson, for example, had people sunbathing and picnicing in the glare of a huge 'sun' for his Weather Project installation from October 2003 to April 2004.

The latest artwork in the series is Carston Holler's Test Site: huge, tubular slides wriggle their way down from the upper floors of the gallery. Metal and clear perspex, the slides are pretty impressive simply as sculptures, but they're also interactive. According to Tate Modern's website, Holler is interested in both the 'visual aspect of watching people sliding and the inner spectacle experienced by the sliders themselves, the state of simultaneous delight and anxiety that you enter as you descend'. But more importantly, it's fun!

So, purely in the interests of research, I made my way to the gallery one Saturday a couple of weeks ago. It's free to go on the slides, but for the ones on the top floors you need a ticket. The queue to the ticket desk was huge, so I had a wander around the gallery, thinking it might quieten down. After a rather trippy hour in the newly hung Poetry and Dream room and a good few minutes walking up and down interactive installation Sliding Doors, a new acquisition for Tate Modern and also by Holler, I returned to the ticket desk. The queue was the length of the Turbine Hall. I gave up and went to Wagamama for lunch.

Watch this space for more adventures with Tate Modern slides...

Read more about Holler's commission here:
The Unilever Series: Carston Holler