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Roger Hiorns Seizure 2008

like coils. All are capped by red sealed stoppers topped with miniature glass hands showing one finger pointing upwards, as if commanding the lid be removed. The bottles are apparently inspired by a tiny bottle seen by the artists at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, though their presentation in this space could not be further from the cluttered and eclectic atmosphere of that museum. Deacon and Woodrow’s bottles are displayed in the atrium of the Bloomberg Space, and appear etched into the building’s form by being subtly exhibited along a glass wall that spans a walkway in the space. The artists’ preoccupation with playfully mixing the archaic with the modern is further emphasised here, with the glass bottles, which hint at spells or other perception-distorting potions, displayed alongside the cold, corporate formality of the Bloomberg offices, within which the art gallery is found. All around Deacon and Woodrow’s magical glass bottles the daily grind of the business world continues. The sharply suited staff that congregate in the meeting room or stride briskly along the upper floors appear suddenly to become part of the art installation, with the steely world of finance infiltrated by objects that speak of something unpredictable, transformative and strange. ❚

ELIZAWILLIAMS is a writer and critic based in London.

■ Roger Hiorns: Seizure 151-189 Harper Road London

September 3 to November 2

It sounds like an urban myth: the walls of a ground-floor flat in a soon-to-be demolished Elephant and Castle estate have developed dark blue mineral secretions. This is not the block coming out in a rash at the rumble of the bulldozer, but Roger Hiorns’ Artangel and Jerwood Foundation co-commission Seizure, 2008. Hiorns is renowned for his extensive use of copper sulphate – a chemical compound which turns into indigo crystal when mixed with water – which he has repeatedly applied on supports as diverse as car engines, architectural models and thistles. For this piece, Hiorns has tried out his signature process on a very different kind of scale, growing crystals on every surface of a derelict apartment. When I first heard about the project, I imagined a mesmerising, bejewelled den hidden behind the grim walls of a decaying block. If undoubtedly visually pleasing, Seizure is much rougher than the pretty fairy-like grotto I expected. The whole flat is coated in a thick layer of cobalt shards, glowing in the light of a few electric bulbs clumsily fixed to the ceiling. Water oozes down the walls like a toxic sweat and gathers in the cracks of the uneven floor in dirty little puddles. Nestled in a crystalline nook, the bath tub – a solitary remnant of past human occupation – is jagged with sharp excrescences. Seizure feels claustrophobic and

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