The line between art and visual merchandising is frequently blurred and nowhere is this more evident at present than in Selfridges’ windows, which allow passers-by a view into the new Wonder Room on the western corner of the Oxford Street flagship.

The chances are high, however, that before staring into the impressive interior, the shopper’s gaze will be arrested by a series of mechanical sculptures in each of the windows. The biggest of these wraps around the corner of Oxford Street and features an installation by contemporary artist Conrad Shawcross, called Palindrome. It consists of a large steel frame, along which two mechanical arms with pinpoint LED lights move while performing identical actions.

The display makes shoppers stop, stare and take photographs and, when their gaze momentarily falters, they look past the construction into the shop itself, which provides sufficient drama to act almost as a secondary window.

The three other windows each feature suspended umbrella-like mechanical sculptures that expand and contract, almost as if they were breathing. This is not the kind of visual merchandising that you will find in most shops, but it serves to direct attention to Oxford Street’s most glamorous shop, which is what any good window should aim to do.

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