With so much of the London Underground being given over to commercial advertising it's great to see Transport for London devoting space to civic minded art by young British artist Andy Landy.
Landy posted ads on the Central Line inviting passengers to send in stories about acts of kindness they've experienced on the Underground. The stories are now being displayed on the Central Line. The stories themselves are not particularly characterful in their writing. I guess something of the voices gets lost in the editing down but I really like the artists intention here, the reminder that acts of kindness do occur on the network, and his rather
dharmic celebration of relationship, generosity and compassion. The Central Line can feel like a pretty hostile environment at times and I think anything that encourages people to think beyond
self and about the
other is to be commended.
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| Poster promoting 'Acts of kindness' on Central Line train. |
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| A nice touch the 'Acts of kindness' Self and Other motif on seating fabric. I like the irregular, imperfect way the matchstick/paperchain figures have been rendered. |
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| A passengers recollection of an 'Acts of Kindness' reproduced on carriage door, see below for text of story. |
'I was trying to pass an elderly man in the train to get off. By coincidence we both kept stepping in the same direction. As we eventually got around each other, he joked. "You dance divine". It made me laugh. It was a sweet thing to say'
