seized away

Roger Hiorns 'Seizure' led them straight to elephant and castle roundabout, a bizarre whirlpool of cultures, flavours and plastic elephants... apparently being transformed into something more representable (sic!) e&c got rid of huge ecclectic social realism-like council buildings and surrendered to get a facelift.

'Seizure' is a project nominated for the Turner Prize 2009. Shortly speaking the artist transformed a council flat into a crystal cave. yay! exciting? playing with an urban space in this way is a sheer fiction. this conceptual instalation involved some serious wildlife chemical processes (crystal caves in Mexico) bringing them into the centre of the city, mostly busy with photosynthesis or respiration. of course the process was artificially generated by the artist, but this is a part of the game metropolis and man play.

Interested in New Brutalism, architecture and urban theory, did Hiorn choose his building - destined for future demolition, 1960s block on Harper Road. The Brutalist architecture taking from LeCorbusier comes close to Social Realism, theory that was a 'hit' in former communist block in Eastern Europe. Designed to contain as many people as possible in the similar small spaces the buildings were to create the spirit of collective driven by the same thoughts and ideas.
The difference is one but vast : in communistic Social Realism this kind of ideology was strongly political and manipulative, whereas western world saw it as a social project connected with social movements 0f 60s and 70s. Freezing the interior with a copper sulphate and turning it into a dream blue crystal cave did Hiorns preserve the idea, however informing the viewer what he thinks of it....dreamy, like a crystal palace and unicorns.