Over 300 years ago an alchemist-come-chemist immersed clean iron into molten zinc; to his amazement a shimmering silver coating developed on the iron. This was to become the first step in the genesis of the galvanizing process.
Unknown to many, galvanizing is all around us today, and plays an important role in our everyday lives. It is used in construction, transport, agriculture and power transmission. It helps light our roads with lighting columns, and provides power to our homes, hospitals and offices via high voltage pylons.
More recently, galvanizing has been used in prestigious buildings and projects by key artists, architects and engineers including Grimshaw's Eden Project, Studio Liebskind's Imperial War Museum North, The National Glass Centre in Sunderland by Gollifer Associates and O'Donnell + Tuomey's Lewis Glucksman Gallery in Cork.
Presenting these projects and more, The Alchemy of Galvanizing: Art, architecture and engineering celebrates the creative and technical contribution of galvanizing to contemporary art, architecture and engineering.