Meet the Busker

So this is the unedited video interview with the busker we met yesterday afternoon. We wanted to share a short clip to let you see what we were doing. During the next week the complete video will be edited and uploaded to the blog.

WWII War Hero

A lovely old War Veteran stopped us on one of the platforms and wanted to talk to us about the project and share his opinion on different generations feelings towards words and language as well as his favourite word of course. A word we hadn't heard before. A word not found in a dictionary or the Internet. Yet a word in its own right. Are you intrigued? Well you will just have to wait for the video to find out what it is!

The Tourist

Whilst we stood waiting for the tube an American family on holiday came and stood beside us. They told us that our tshirts were very ture to what they said 'Personal Space - A Lost Concept On The Tube' this was their third day in London and they were just getting used to the tube but they weren't keen to try and get on at ruch hour. Taking one of our train tickets and promising to check out the blog once they were back in the States with internet connection (it had been 4 days since they last used the internet!) Her warm and bubbly personality made this lady a pleasure to speak to, and her favourite word was typically American: Dude!!!

Tip the Busker

The generosity of commuters today is often questioned. as we walk down the tunnel to get on the next tube the sound of music could be heard, brandishing the ticket 'Tip the Busker' we approached him. The muscian was more than happy to help fellow artists and answered our questions all the while still playing his music. He gave us his card and we gave him ours and some loose change and he happily waved us off on our way.

The busker's name is Mike Muttel and his website is www.muttel.com

First Stop - Circle Line

The good news is people took motice of the shirts and seemed interested. We even spotted several people checking that they were wearing deodorant after reading the 'Deodorant is advisable' slogan. We soon discovered that although there was a lot of interest in the tops actually getting people to communicate on the tube was quite difficult. People are quick enough to stop and stare at your chest but not so keen to stop and talk.

That being said once we arrived at South Kensington a gentleman stopped us and asked what we were doing. He was interested in the project and was happy for us to do a quick interview where we asked him about his favourite words and any strange or memorible tube journeys. Overall a quite successful first stop.

Whilst waiting for the next tube to allow us to continue on our journey we bumped into a familiar face who was more than happy to answer a few questions.

Anybody for golf?

I've seen many strange things on the tube on my morning commute, but this morning I saw something new. A man in a suit got on the train at Barbican at about 8am carrying two single golf clubs. Yes he may have been going to play golf after work, but if that's the case surely you would need more than two clubs? What's the strangest thing you've seen someone carrying on the tube?

The Plan of Action!

The route is set! 

The performance of The Power of Words will take part on Thursday 24th November 2011.The chosen stations have been picked due to their location of surrounding art galleries and or art schools.

We will start at King's Cross Station at 2pm on the westbound Circle Line train where we will travel to South Kensington. From here we will travel along the Piccadilly Line northbound to Leicester Square. We will then carry on northbound to Covent Garden and Holborn before changing to the Central Line and traveling eastbound to Bethnal Green and Mile End. After a quick change to the Distric Line we will venture to Aldgate East and then onto Embankment. Another Change will have us traveling northbound on the Northern Line through Charing Cross ending at Warren Street. Here we will hop on the Victoria Line to southbound to Pimlico, before traveling back northbound to Green Park. Here we will change to the Jubilee Line and travel northbound through to St John's Wood, and Finchley Road where we will change on to the Metropolitan Line and go southbound to Baker Street. Here we will change one last time to a Hammersmith and City Line train and travel westbound to our final destination Paddington.

The creative process

At the end of last week we got together to start making the edited train tickets which will be given out to people. Each ticket has a slogan or quote related to tube travel stamped over the original text. One of the most exciting aspects of words is humour, when carefully aranged words have the power to make the reader laugh. For this reason we have chosen a mixture of witty remarks to go alongside typical tube text. 

These photographs are of some of the group members creating the pieces.

Welcome!

In this first post we would like to welcome you to our blog page. Please take the time to read about the collective and our current project The Power of Words. Over the next coming weeks we will post more information regarding the artworks, the performance piece and the exhibition. We would very much encourage you to comment and react to the works, after all this is a public art piece which will only thrive with the participation of the public.