Last night, Londonist took part in Museum of London's Digital City Late. Bucking the theme of digital art somewhat, we instead invited hundreds of visitors to map their journeys to the museum on to paper maps, comment on how they felt and create hand drawn emoticons.
One map was designated for 'machine' journeys (tube, train, bus, etc.) and one for 'physical' journeys (walk, cycle, etc.). The 'machine' journey map swiftly shaped up into an impressive composite picture with an incredible spread of journeys from around London. Notable among the modes of public transport was the visitor who had started his journey on a plane from Argentina, and another who had been aboard a helicopter from an oil rig en route to London Wall.
Over on the 'physical' map, those who'd got to the Museum under their own steam included a cyclist who'd biked it all the way from Trinity Buoy Wharf. Sadly, no one had roller skated to the Late or got a piggyback, although a couple of visitors offered to demonstrate one just to get on the map. Without a pair of scissors, this map wasn't going to look as good as the 'machine' one but our mappers made up for this with their comments about their journey, ranging from 'sweaty', 'happy', 'dope ass' to praise for the beautiful weather and philosophical messages like 'life is bigger than work, take a chance, smile!!'.
A third London map got covered with unique and, in certain instances, mysterious emoticons. Why is there a dinosaur over Vauxhall? What does a cat face express? Good to see lots of smileys but what on earth does "No time for donkey" hovering around Bethnal Green mean? Answers in the comments please.
Museum of London Digital City Late was part of Museums at Night, which continues tonight and Saturday. Read our preview here. Photos taken on an iPhone in poor light by Lindsey. Huge thanks to Laura and Andy for their help.