The Village Underground

In my last post I mentioned that during Open House London this past weekend I visited a place called the Village Underground.  It sounds like it might be something spooky, but it is definitely not.

The Underground is the London subway system. It is commonly called the Tube (pronounced: tchoob) because that's exactly what it is: a network of tubes running beneath all of London and much of the surrounding areas.

It even looks like a tube!

The Village Underground is not under the ground--in fact, it is quite far above the ground--and it is not even near a Tube station. No, the Village Underground is actually an artists' studio. A group of artists took old, unused Underground cars, had them lifted on top of a warehouse, and converted them into work spaces.

It is a very cool project, and a great idea for recycling the unused space. The insides of the train cars are the perfect sizes for desks along the windows and are fully equipped with electricity, internet, and other things required of an office.

The outsides of the Underground cars provided the perfect reusable canvas for the artists. While we were visiting, some guys were spray painting one of the cars.

This place was just so cool! Haley and I felt like squares there with our cameras and our conformist clothing and our unimaginative ideas and our impressionable minds. Some guys with dreadlocks and gauged piercings were there playing records I'd never heard before with Bob Marley-esque vibes, and electro indie undertones. These artists could not have been older than thirty (because people that old just can't be cool enough to do this kind of thing), and they had already done something with their lives. What have I done? Certainly nothing as cool as PAINTING A SUBWAY CAR.

THIS guy. (please also note the ironic rooster weather vain)

Please don't misunderstand me, these artists are not hipster scum. No, unfortunately my mocking tone is rooted in true jealousy and not simply hatred.

The Village Underground is located in Shoreditch, which is a neighborhood of London known for it's indie art scene. It's the home of the Anti-Design Festival (the counterpart to the "highly commercialized" Design Festival).  My friend and I walked there and we passed a lot of independent art studios and show rooms with some really interesting street art pieces. We also passed a lot of genuine graffiti. I am actually a big fan of graffiti, it's one of my favorite part of cities.

Maybe this weekend I'll head to the junk yard and find myself an old Tube car that I can convert into an office...