A plain old zebra crossing doesn’t quite cut it for the streets of the Culture Mile, as the City of London Corporation kicks off its programme of pop up art installations with a pair of road murals outside Barbican Tube station.
‘The Colourful Crossings’ were unveiled across Aldersgate and Beech streets earlier this month as part of the authority’s bid to transform the stretch between Farringdon Station and Moorgate into a bustling arts hub over the next decade.
One of the primary aims of strategy is to improve pollution-choked Beech Street tunnel by reducing traffic to westbound lanes only, while providing pedestrians with more walking space and livening up the area with art installations.
Another installation, ‘Brutalist Tapestry’ will transform a 21-metre section of the tunnel into an evolving mural of 3D pixels over the next month.
In March, Beech Street was closed to traffic for two days to host an audio-visual performance from Tony Award-winning by artists 59 Productions for Barbican OpenFest.
