True Blue

I did manage to complete my mission... though slightly distracted I must say! Thanks to Miss Pen Pen I managed to catch a stunning art installation by Roger Hiorns called Seizure.
Here's an excerpt of the Artangel booklet:

British artist Roger Hiorns uses unusual materials to effect surprising transformations on found objects and urban situations. Fire emerges from storm drains, perfume permeates metal surfaces, and copper sulphate crystals colonise industrial objects.

Over recent years Hiorns has engineered crystal activity on a range of objects emblematic of rational structures of human knowledge and industrial power. Removed from their original function, car engines and architect's models of cathedrals take on new lives of their own, as strange totems encrusted by a brilliant crystal growth.

SEIZURE, Hiorn's first major sculptural project within an urban site, marks a radical shift in scale and context in his work. The artist encourages the growth of an unexpected crystal form within a low-rise late-modernist development near the Elephant & Castle in south London.

Awaiting demolition, the concrete cloisters play host to a surprising chemical reclamation as the crystals begin to take over the interior of one of the flats.

The building itself is easy to miss, but there's a subtle queue of people waiting to be fitted with a pair of gumboots, which adds to the novelty of the experience. It does take a while so bring someone to chat to! Gloves are optional and you are allowed to touch the crystals. Entering the unit is like entering an ice cave or an alien landscape of pure blue crystals and moonscape floors. I was awed by the pure blue colour and the uniformity and strange beauty of the crystals in mass effect, like a strange growth or cut geode invading the city.

The address is:151-189 Harper Road, London SE1 6AE, closest tube : Elephant and Castle. Extended until 30 November 2008.

...Photo credits to my exemplary co-pilot Dave... also the source of said distraction. (-: