Quick! Look! This is a coucil flat in Southark but it’s cool and blue and rather beautiful.
There was a brief report about it last night on Channel 4 News, which you can watch here. They explain how the artist Roger Hiorns created the work by flooding a derelict, sealed flat with hot, saturated copper sulphate solution.
Seizure by Roger Hiorns.
The whole of the interior is coated in deep blue crystals.
This I’d like to see up close and, apparently, you can.
Grr, I miss living in London, that looks very cool.
It’s not that far from Didcot…! But the ‘installation’ (?) is only on show until the end of the month (details in the link).
Damn. I think might comments are crystallising…
Might? I meant ‘my’ of course. Time to lie down I think.
Cool! I also like that it’s made popular by word of mouth (as the video says).
Hmm, and Didcot does have a train station (although not much else!). Maybe I could have a day out!
@Eva – well, word of mouth and the national evening news on TV…
@Sara – go on! You know you want to!
Where do you get 60 tons of copper sulphate???
Bluetastic! But not the first time derelict public housing has been reinvented in the form of art. The Godfrey Reggio film Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance used sequences from the demolition of the abandoned Pruitt-Igoe housing project (in St. Louis), with accompanying Philip Glass music.
Good question Steffi. I had a quick look at Sigma and they sell copper sulphate for about £20 per kg which would work out at £1.2m. Pricey! But perhaps they got a bulk discount…?
@Kristi – I’ve not seen Koyaanisqatsi. Would you recommend it?
The only other “public housing art” that I know of was in Sony’s recent ad for their TV’s which I gather was done with real paint (not CGI!) and a derelict block of flats. I’m not endorsing their product but it was quite a spectacular film:
Holy cow, that ad is cool, Stephen! I cannot imagine how much it cost to produce.
Stephen, I couldn’t resist – I just had to link here from Brian’s post.
Would you recommend it?
Errr … only if you like Philip Glass music, and films that are about cinematography, rather than plot. I enjoyed all the “Qatsi” movies, but none has a plot. I also enjoy driving hundreds of miles over mountain and desert roads, with Philip Glass soundtracks on the CD player.
Here’s the link for the Pruitt-Igoe segment of Koyaanisqatsi (it’s long, so I didn’t embed it). You’ll see a lot of US urban squalor (remember, the theme is “life out of balance”), and the demolition starts at around 5 minutes.
@Anna – in science, it’s best not to think of the advertising budgets of major coroporations, particularly in relation to grant funding. Too depressing. The ad is cool though!
@Steffi – I’m all for networking! I had some vague notion of flagging it up on Brian’s post but it amounted to nothing – my mind blanked. Thanks for stepping in. I have to say the production value and artist content of some ad are quite amazing at times. One of my favourites was for Stella Artois -Priests on Ice. There’s no dialogue but it’s a virtuoso piece of film-making:
@Kristi – I skpped forward to the demolitions. Quite balletic. Though it’s a bit unnerving to see how something so apparently solid can just crumple like that. And I guess such images have a more sinister resonance now…
All the Reggio films (including Anima Mundi) are good, but if you only have time for one Qatsi movie, I’d recommend Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation over the other two. Here’s the trailer:
The Hopi word powaqqatsi also refers to a sorcerer who sucks the life out of his victims. If you watch the film, you’ll see why that’s an appropriate title. Some of its scenes also have a more sinister resonance, post-9/11.
@Stephen – surely the queen of public housing art is Rachel Whitread with her casts of rooms.
@Brian – not by external appearances…! Is is better on the inside?
@Kristi – like many trailers the rate of intercutting is rather rapid. Lots of arresting images but I suspect I may be too tired to absorb properly.
And gosh, hasn’t my typing has been dreadful today – two bad mistakes in my comment to Steffi above. Of course I meant production values and artistic content… I really would like to be able to edit comments!
@ Stephen – Yes, the trailer intercutting rather ruins the image sequence. The juxtapositions work extremely well in the actual film, however. Many of the scenes are exquisitely beautiful, and others are beyond ugly. The initial scenes, at Serra Pelada, are very disturbing.
Stephen – the priests on ice: mean! And brilliant 🙂
Steffi – I love the way the old priest can completely control the young curate with just an inflection of his eyes. Anyone who grew up within the Catholic Church will probably recognise the mean old git character. Ordination doesn’t vaccinate against this type appearing from time to time…