Theorising the Tube
Interested in developing a multifaceted understanding of the systems and effects of the London Underground, we undertook a range of theoretical research to augment our bureaucratic and on-site investigations. Grounded in the realms of art and social theory, these philosophical and critical texts proposed different ways of understanding systems of control and the production of space. We strongly felt that these texts would provide us with an alternate and essential framework within which to analyze and understand the London Underground.
Aiming to make our application of the theoretical writings with which we were engaged as clear and concrete as possible (knowing that they would ultimately inform our playful interventions in the space as well), we produced a series of essays that analyze a specific condition or element of the Underground through the ideas presented by a particular writer or set of theories. These essays can be found under the “Writings” tab under “Theorising the Tube”.
Abstracts:
Foucault as a Framework: Power and Self-Disciplinary Bodies in the London Underground applies Foucault’s notion of institutionalized ‘disciplinary power’ and the ways in which it produces self-regulating bodies to the space of the Underground. Drawing examples from CCTV surveillance and TfL advertisements, this essay argues that disciplinary power is in full force in the Tube, compelling Tube users to strictly police their own behavior.
Deleuze: Becoming Machinic examines the ways in which the functioning of the Tube has become overrun by technological systems, stripping power from those who used to operate and manage it. This has resulted in an experience for Tube users that can be qualified as 'becoming-machine'.
Lefebvre and de Certeau: The Tube: A User’s Manual examines the control of the Tube space through language in relation to Henri Lefebvre’s idea of the production of social space and Michel de Certeau’s tactical practice of everyday life. It addresses the suppression of creativity and agency within the Tube by examining the dominant forms of writing present, particularly the advertisements, and, through these theorists’ work, proposes an alternative way of living/practicing the Underground.
Kelly and Canclini: The Other Underground Space asks, Is this state of the ‘Other Underground London’ susceptible to change? Through the reading of Nestor Garcia Canclini, and Susan Kelly there may be some opportunity to intervene in the processes of ambiguous belonging, the self other dichotomy and the relation to the ‘Other Underground London’. The tube most definitely has an affect on our lives, and therefore we too have an active ability to have an effect within it.
Aiming to make our application of the theoretical writings with which we were engaged as clear and concrete as possible (knowing that they would ultimately inform our playful interventions in the space as well), we produced a series of essays that analyze a specific condition or element of the Underground through the ideas presented by a particular writer or set of theories. These essays can be found under the “Writings” tab under “Theorising the Tube”.
Abstracts:
Foucault as a Framework: Power and Self-Disciplinary Bodies in the London Underground applies Foucault’s notion of institutionalized ‘disciplinary power’ and the ways in which it produces self-regulating bodies to the space of the Underground. Drawing examples from CCTV surveillance and TfL advertisements, this essay argues that disciplinary power is in full force in the Tube, compelling Tube users to strictly police their own behavior.
Deleuze: Becoming Machinic examines the ways in which the functioning of the Tube has become overrun by technological systems, stripping power from those who used to operate and manage it. This has resulted in an experience for Tube users that can be qualified as 'becoming-machine'.
Lefebvre and de Certeau: The Tube: A User’s Manual examines the control of the Tube space through language in relation to Henri Lefebvre’s idea of the production of social space and Michel de Certeau’s tactical practice of everyday life. It addresses the suppression of creativity and agency within the Tube by examining the dominant forms of writing present, particularly the advertisements, and, through these theorists’ work, proposes an alternative way of living/practicing the Underground.
Kelly and Canclini: The Other Underground Space asks, Is this state of the ‘Other Underground London’ susceptible to change? Through the reading of Nestor Garcia Canclini, and Susan Kelly there may be some opportunity to intervene in the processes of ambiguous belonging, the self other dichotomy and the relation to the ‘Other Underground London’. The tube most definitely has an affect on our lives, and therefore we too have an active ability to have an effect within it.