The art of office life
Dutch artist Gabriel Lester's first British show allows City workers to go behind the scenes at the office.
In the heart of the Square Mile, his set of three installations creates a stage where lunchtime visitors can become the headline act.
Big Bang, the room-sized sculpture filling the first gallery of Bloomberg SPACE, is a series of MDF scaffolding slices punctured by increasingly larger holes.
Each slice becomes part of an illusion that manages to fool the eye, despite knowing exactly how it's made.
How To Act also relies on illusion, consisting of an empty stage with coloured lights programmed to accompany a set of audio extracts from old films. It becomes compelling viewing as imagination fills in the missing action.
The final installation, Untitled (Backdrops), is the least striking visually - but it fits the space the most, with theatrical backcloths hanging around Bloomberg's internal atrium.
Visitors have to pick between them, sometimes unwittingly coming out on to a stage in front of an audience made up of besuited natives. It's an infectious experience: viewing surrounding streets from within the gallery, all the lunch-hour crowds seem carefully choreographed, and the desk-bound workers at Bloomberg become bit parts in the ongoing drama that is the financial market.
Until Feb 24, Bloomberg SPACE, 50 Finsbury Square EC2, Tue to Sat 11am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7330 7959. Tube: Moorgate
Big Bang And Assorted Minor Explosions
Bloomberg SPACE
50 Finsbury Square EC2
