Credit: SEIZURE ROGER HIORNS / ARTANGEL, 2008. PHOTOS: MARCUS LEITH

Crystallization is a common method in synthetic chemistry that allows the isolation and purification of compounds, and also aids their characterization through techniques such as X-ray crystallography. What is less expected is to find it being used as a method for creating art. This is why Roger Hiorns's Seizure exhibit has attracted thousands of fascinated visitors each week. Open to the public between July and October this year, Seizure is a disused flat in a low-rise block in South London — the interior of which has been entirely claimed by a dense growth of blue crystals. The artist has allowed crystalline copper sulfate to grow on the walls, the ceilings and on the remaining objects — the bath and a few pendulous light fittings — in this small two room flat.

Both chemists and non-chemists alike will remember being amazed when crystallizing samples of copper sulfate using their childhood chemistry set or in their first school experiments, but this exhibit astonishes through its sheer scale. The flat was reinforced with steel and transformed into a watertight tank before over 70,000 litres of saturated copper sulfate solution was pumped in at 60 °C. Crystallization occurred as the solution cooled to 30 °C over the course of several weeks, and the result was only revealed when the flat was drained and an entrance to visitors cut.

Hiorns's choice to use copper sulfate as a medium stems from his interest in using materials that create the sculpture themselves, in the absence of the artist. Previous work by the sculptor has involved crystallization on the surfaces of small objects in his studio, however it is this large-scale project that has earned Hiorns a nomination for the 2009 Turner Prize — a prestigious award that celebrates new developments in contemporary art — the winner of which will be announced in December.