The subway as event：making places out of non-places.

Why is travelling on the subway not an ecstatic experience?

An experience that we would not confine to the regularities of workaday, functional, enslaved life, but a n event that we would embrace for the sheer pleasure- the sheer pleasure of being below ground, experiencing this hurtling through a tunnel, marvelling at the technological wonder that has made it possible for us to be here- so deep, so fast with these unconnected people?

The subway could become a beautiful event, an event of excitement with glass tubes as trains. Glass not only on the sides but also above and below-making a cylindrical canvas (the internal wall of a cylinder) the canvas for brilliant shows of light. Objects of marvel whilst changing places- the act of transit ceases to be a nothing time but becomes an event; an experience to be cherished in itself. The journey becomes more attractive, or equally so- to that of the destination.

A multitude of co loured lights could be adjusted to invoke various states of being. At times the subway would be tranquil- whites and blues – not dissimilar to swimming through a vast ocean. Or there would be a psychedelic mode with a fluorescent menagerie of pumping, throbbing colour.

The reflective glass makes for interesting effects as the internal space of the subway is eternally reflected, repeating into the distance. The viewers then projected onto the light beyond- a curious blend of spectator and visual spectacle.