Céleste Boursier-Mougenot

Yesterday evening I was treated to a truly wonderful piece of installation art at The Curve gallery at the Barbican.

The artist responsible, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot was originally trained as a musician and composer, and the influence is obvious. Transforming the usually quite dark and claustrophobic space into a bright walk-through aviary, full of zebra finches incidentally playing instruments as they go about their day-to-day. The show’s had a lot of coverage, but what’s rarely mentioned is the beauty and confident aloofness of the birds themselves. I urge you to brave the queues before it closes on Sunday.