Art Funded by you

1) Proton, Unity, Energy, Blizzard; 2) Unfolding the Aryan Papers

Jane and Louise Wilson, 1) 2000; 2) 2009

The twin sisters Jane and Louise Wilson have been leading pioneers of video installation in Britain since the early 1990s. Their work often features institutional spaces, and they have sometimes infiltrated and revealed sites of political or military power normally closed to public view. Proton, Unity, Energy, Blizzard was filmed in Kazakhstan, at four sites associated with the Russian space programme: Proton is the name of a rocket, Unity the launch site for manned space missions, Energy is an abandoned launch site and Blizzard a manned space shuttle craft. The viewer stands in the centre of two dual-screen projections, which are large enough to convey the monumentality of the immense vehicle transporters, the firing rocket engines and the wide panoramas of the Kazakh desert landscape. The second piece, Unfolding the Aryan Papers (above), reveals the hidden story of an unmade film, buried within the director Stanley KubrickÂ’s archives. Still photographs of wardrobe shoots and other documents lead the Wilsons to the Dutch actress, Johanna ter Steege, who had been lined up to play the main role in the film, The Aryan Papers, and whose life was devastated by the projectÂ’s cancellation. The film was to have been set against the historical background of the Holocaust and to have tracked the story of a Jewish woman and her son trying to escape persecution.

More information

Title of artwork, date

1) Proton, Unity, Energy, Blizzard; 2) Unfolding the Aryan Papers, 1) 2000; 2) 2009

Date supported

2011

Medium and material

1) four screen video installation; 2) single screen video installation

Dimensions

1) 6 min 50 sec; 2) 17 min 48 sec

Grant

40000

Total cost

98080

Content note: This object record is part of our archive and has not been updated since it was first published. It may contain inaccurate information or outdated language. Please get in touch if you think this record should be amended.

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