Going round in circles at Barbican

2004's 26 Letters exhibition, for which I created the X poster with Thomas Manss, was followed up this year by From Here to Here, an exhibition and book inspired by London's Circle Line. Like last year's project, this was a highly collaborative effort. London Underground's Platform for Art team got together with writers' collective 26 and students from the London College of Communication to create works for the London Design Festival.

I was invited to work on Barbican, home of what must be London's most notorious labyrinth. Everyone we spoke to thought immediately of getting lost amid the Barbican Estate's maze of passages, walkways and exits.

So we decided to test the myth. Armed with a tape recorder, we asked passers-by on the estate for directions to its many landmarks - St Giles' Church, the Girls' School, the Conservatory. It's fair to say that most of those we asked were pretty uncertain. One person even confessed to having trouble finding her way around even though she'd lived there for ten years.

One of the best sets of directions we collected ended up as this spoof signage, carefully Photoshop'd by LCC student Kenny Osinnowo. You can see a copy of the poster, along with all the others, at Embankment station until December. And you can find out more at the project website.

The project also spawned a book, also entitled From Here to Here, excerpts of which were turned into a mini-exhibition of their own as part of the main show. It was brilliantly executed by designer Sue Rogers and 26 member Nick Asbury, and if you missed it have a look at the website they created to go with it. You can also click here to buy the book from Amazon.