A FIVE ton sculpture which has been likened to "digital ivy" has been unveiled.

The art work entitled Cactal has been installed on the side of a building which will be the home of Middlesbrough's DigitalCity project.

Middlesbrough, is already famous for its Bottle of Notes steel sculpture created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, celebrating the town's pioneering past.

Cactal, with steel tendrils spreading across the facade of the Autumn opening Institute of Digital Innovation building, heralds the future.

The institute, part of the University of Teesside, will harness the research and digital strengths of the university, to drive forward Middlesbrough's ambitious creative engineering DigitalCity project.

A university spokesman said: "With tendrils growing across the building surface ike 'digital ivy', Cactal reflects the internal activity of the IDI.'' The sculpture has been designed by artist Simeon Nelson and was fashioned by North East based steel fabricators Architectural Metalworkers.

Dr Jim TerKeurst, the IDI Director, said: "It's a terrific sculpture and represents the creative use of digital technology and the impressive metal craft skills and capabilities of the North East.

"We have aspirations to take the University of Teesside and Digital City to new heights and Simeon Nelson's Cactal is a visual expression of this goal as it reaches up and across our new Phoenix Building."

Simeon Nelson said: "Cactal is based on a digital organism. What the students and public will see high up on the facade of the Institute's building is a process of self-generation that has been frozen at a particular moment."

The building's steelwork had to be strengthened to hold in place the five-ton sculpture which started life as a computer-generated image.

Professor Graham Henderson, university Vice-Chancellor, said: "The university landscape is enhanced by this innovative and thought-provoking work of art. I am delighted that our new Phoenix building is associated with this work by Simeon Nelson. It enriches our campus and, indeed, the Tees Valley itself."