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Catalyst (TX Aria cement Sculpture)

A permanent sculpture in the form of a draped car sited in the cultural quarter of Dundee. The brief was for the work to relate to its particular site, situated between a central car park, Dundee Contemporary Arts and Sensation Science Centre. The 14-ton sculpture is made of TX Aria cement, an innovative material that cleans the air of pollutants. This material contains a catalytic material (nano-crystalline grade of titanium dioxide) that reacts with light to trigger the molecules of air borne pollutants, such as nitric oxides, carbon monoxide, sulphur monoxide to break apart. Daylight initiates a reaction where the active concrete surface converts harmful nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrate. This in turn reacts with the calcium hydroxide of the concrete surface and drains off with the next rainfall into soils where plants can use it. The first time that this material has been used in Europe in a completed project and a world first in an art project.

The draped surface of the sculpture and the covering of its subject draw on classical and surrealist references respectively, whilst its chemically responsive properties, reflect on the growing complexity of environmental awareness associated with the turn of the 21st century. With no specific model of car identified, the work represents a universal icon, a motif of the 20thC that went hand-in-hand with a modernist vision of the future, and the right to travel independently and unencumbered. In the 21st century, our relationship with transport is changing, curbed by our knowledge of the complex impact it has had on our society and environment. The artwork is presented on an angled plinth on which a scientific formula is inscribed, an unraveling of the catalytic chemistry silently at work as the air around this car is in a continual state of change and transformation.