Going South ...

Greg then took us on a bit of an adventure to deepest South London: Elephant and Castle, to view Roger Hiorn's Artangel Project, Seizure. I love Artangel projects for their sheer ambition and uncompromising commitment to the artists' vision. Seizure did not disappoint. We were all fairly tired when we reached the site: a derelict housing estate just off the New Kent Road. Bemusedly, we donned wellington boots and gloves as instructed before entering a disused ground-floor flat.

Neither images nor video can do justice to this installation - you really do have to be there. The artist has coated the entire interior of the space - walls, floors, ceilings, fixtures and fittings - with dazzling blue copper sulphate crystals.

On one level, this is such a simple intervention - resurfacing a found object (a favourite working method of Hiorn), and, of course, the apparent simplicity belies the technical challenges of making the space water-tight and filling it to the brim with a supersaturated copper sulphate solution - but the word which keeps popping into my head to describe the result is "spiritual" (this, from a hard-headed, logical/scientific type!). We were all struck by how hushed everybody became when they entered the rooms, and afterwards several of us commented on how refreshed we felt by the experience ... ready to face the rest of the day.

A programme of talks accompanies this project, including the artist Roger Hiorns in conversation with Michael Stanley at the Jerwood Space on Tuesday 14 October. Full details on the Artangel website.