Offish with the office

The Office: Group Show

People who would rather die than work in an office - and I'm presuming to include artists here - must imagine all those anonymous, dead-eyed suits and thank the Lord they lead such interesting, free-spirited, creative lives.

You certainly get the impression that John Pilson, who's made a video featuring office workers doing really 'unconventional' things - like jumping over tables - is such a person.

But look at the pictures taken in Philip Kwame Apagya's photography studio in Ghana and the dreary office worker is suddenly transformed. Proud to play the swaggering executive, Apagya's clients pose against a stage-painted backdrop of office equipment. Even the PCs are painted on flimsy fabric.

It's not like that in the West. Like Pilson, video artist Sofia Hulten imagines that inside every frustrated pen-pusher is a wacky individual dying to get out. Her female office worker jumps about, encased in a large plastic bin bag, and struggles from one end of a room to another, trapped in a set of cardboard boxes.

Actually, far more interesting are the anonymous documentary photographs looking at 50 years of office design. Did you know, for instance, that it was Robert Probst who introduced us to the concept of the individual cubicle in the late 1960s? Pity the 1950s clerk, with those dreary horizontal rows of endless desks. But add a few office dividers, some spider plants and a few cuddly toys and, hey presto, watch as the office is transformed into a real home from home.

Until Jan 18, Photographers' Gallery, 5 & 8 Great Newport Street W2, Mon to Sat 11am to 6pm, Sun midday to 6pm, free.

Tel: 020 7831 1772. Tube: Leicester Square