London's Victoria Line Celebrates History with Year-Long Arts Program Underline

Transport for London has initiated Underline, a year-long series of arts commissions celebrating the Victoria line's history and design legacy. The program launches with Giles Round's Design Work Leisure, which will create functional prototypes including a limited edition Oyster Card. Liam Gillick will produce films shot across the Underground network, while Matt Rogers has composed music to be performed live by the London Sinfonietta at stations next spring. Zineb Sedira contributes a film and photographic series, and the Turner Prize-nominated collective Assemble will redesign the entrance at Seven Sisters station. These commissions reflect on the line's opening in 1969 as the first new Underground line in six decades, connecting Victoria to Walthamstow. The Arts & Crafts principles of William Morris, who influenced early twentieth-century London Underground managing director Frank Pick, also inform the projects. Underline is organized as part of Art on the Underground, Transport for London's public art program.