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Richard Wilson SLIPSTREAM Richard Wilson SLIPSTREAM 001 Edited by Jean Wainwright With an introduction by Mark Davy 002 003 Published by Futurecity Ltd. Contents Futurecity Ltd. 57 Clerkenwell Road Part_No.01 London EC1M 5NG futurecity.co.uk Introduction 006 Futurecity Ltd. © 2014 By Futurecity’s Mark Davy All works © the artist 2014 All texts © the authors 2014 Part_No.02 All rights reserved. No part of this book will be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by Flight Path 016 any means, electronic or mechanical, including By Jean Wainwright photocopying, recording or by any information- retrieval system without written permission of the publisher. Part_No.03 ISBN 978-0-9928938-0-4 Conversation Piece 030 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data By Jean Wainwright A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Part_No.04 Designed by Jeremy Timings jeremytimings.com All Roads Lead to Rome 058 By Jean Wainwright Printed in the United Kingdom by Taylor Brothers on FSC certified paper. Part_No.05 Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or The Heathrow Story 068 omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of this Appendix information contained herein. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders but Biographies if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the 076 necessary arrangements will be made at the Acknowledgments and Thanks first opportunity. 078 Credits and Copyright 079 004 005 01 Part_No.01 Introduction By Futurecity’s Mark Davy 006 007 ‘The whole project is almost a metaphor for the history of flight: I think I’m Orville Wright and I’m there with my quill and canvas – yet we’ve ended up in the cockpit of a jumbo jet.’ Richard Wilson, 2014 The story of the Covered Court the gallery opened in 2000. We were commission for Terminal 2 : Queen’s also interested in the huge number Terminal at Heathrow started early in of visitors that would access the new 2010: that was when I was introduced terminal, delivered by 23 Star Alliance to the Heathrow design team by airlines, Aer Lingus, Germanwings architect Jolyon Brewis, chief executive and Virgin Atlantic Little Red. Since of Grimshaw Architects. Discussions it opened in May 2000, more than were taking place about plans for the 40 million people have visited Tate Covered Court – a large space similar in Modern* compared to the estimated size to the Tate Turbine Hall – envisaged 20 million per annum expected to as a grand architectural entranceway enter the Covered Court. Could we by the architect Luis Vidal. use the commission to attract a That first meeting involved detailed new audience through our cultural discussions of culture and placemaking gateway and attract a new following and how the use of the arts – rather for contemporary art? than a more traditional approach – Admittedly, the idea of using a might introduce the idea of a cultural monumental artwork to define ‘place’ gateway to London. The idea of a high- is not new: Antony Gormley’s Angel of profile artwork that could symbolise the North (1998) has been a successful the entrance to London for millions of global icon for the regeneration of visitors each year was presented to the Gateshead in north-east England. In Heathrow design team in 2010 – and the Chicago, Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate Covered Court commission was born. (2006) has become the ultimate ‘selfie’ For inspiration, the design team moment for anyone recording their visit looked to the enduring success of to the Millennium Park in the United Tate Modern, the former power station States’ Windy City. However, in a century converted into a world-class gallery. already defined by digital technology In particular, the hugely successful and global information networks, the Unilever Series provided ideas for a public seem more interested than ever radical approach to commissioning in the vision of the artist. That said, for the Covered Court. The series has developing a large-scale artwork for an delivered exciting installations by international airport is different from a artists using the scale and volume commission for a public square or new of the Turbine Hall, including (still park. The ambition for the artwork – to memorable) interventions such as dominate the Covered Court – meant the groundbreaking Weather Project that Heathrow might receive artists’ by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur proposals that would radically alter Eliasson in 2003 and Louise Bourgeois’ the design of the space. steel towers I Do, I Undo, I Redo, which The final artist brief offered 008 were shown in the Turbine Hall when suggestions for the commission based 009 on travel, movement, communication However, in Richard Wilson’s Slipstream and global links on history and heritage. the technology was hidden, tucked However, the real challenge for five of away inside a sleek, undulating form the world’s leading artists (shortlisted that required the help of cutting-edge from Japan, the United States and the methods of design, engineering and United Kingdom) was how to make full fabrication to be realised. Wilson’s use of the unprecedented opportunity masterstroke was to take the to propose a monumental artwork that constituent parts of the flying machines could fill the void of the Covered Court that have fascinated us for over a and provide a world-class artwork for century and, through a vast alchemical the new terminal building. experiment, fuse the physical, scientific Richard Wilson’s Slipstream was and emotional in one endeavour. His selected from a longlist of five public art proposal cleverly communicated our proposals presented to the Heathrow faith and trust in technology as well as Design Team on 8th December 2010. the human touch required to get us to Wilson’s team arrived late, crowding our destination. into the grey corporate meeting room Wilson finally started work on the and outnumbering the selection panel. Covered Court commission in spring They spent most of their allocated 2011. His early proposals now showed time unpacking Wilson’s numerous Slipstream slightly shorter in length – working models, pinning up drawings trapped between two passenger bridges and laying out construction materials – but integrating the architecture of on every available surface until we were the terminal and slung off four of the transported to a version of his studio. building’s structural columns. It was a bravura performance The ambition of Wilson’s proposal, and there was a palpable sense of the complex supply chain involved and excitement and energy in the room as he Slipstream’s intricate shape and weight expounded his proposal for a sculpture meant the project had to be a model inspired by the world of aviation, of collaboration and partnership from combining precision engineering and the outset. Preparations were made specialised UK craftsmanship. Wilson’s to embed his proposal into the definition of ‘slipstream’ in this case was delivery programme of HETCo a sculptural ‘uninterrupted stream or (a Laing O’Rourke/Ferrovial Agroman discharge’ through the Covered Court. joint venture), which was leading the It would follow the imagined flight construction of Terminal 2. path of a Zivko Edge 540, an advanced Every part of the project required aerobatics aircraft designed and built innovation and bespoke methods of in Guthrie, Oklahoma, made famous by fabrication, design and installation; British pilot and Red Bull Air Race world even the delivery of the 23 huge champion Paul Bonhomme. component sections required military On reflection, it was interesting planning and precision. Slipstream to note that many of the shortlisted was transported by low-loader from proposals for the Covered Court the Hull-based manufacturing plant in commission made visible use of north-east England across six counties, technology such as film, lighting and smuggled into the terminal after dark kinetics. All of these elements would across the main runway of one of the reflect Heathrow’s role as a major world’s busiest airports. As the project airport and transport hub where progressed into 2013 it was clear that engineering, design and aesthetics the commission was now far beyond a come together in spectacular fashion. philanthropic gesture. 010 011 012 013 By late 2013 it was obvious that panoramic view of the twisting, Wilson had been the right choice for tumbling form of the sculpture for the Covered Court commission. He had passengers leaving the lifts at Arrivals. managed to find ways of bringing the But it is the reflection of the sculpture inventiveness and playfulness of his in the canyon glass wall of the terminal large-scale temporary works to the that really surprises. The great Covered Court, communicated through leviathan slumbering in the deep green dozens of drawings, photographs, of the glass is 78 metres of riveted collages and low-tech models of aluminium soaring through the four cardboard and wire. There was even support columns under the undulating an old hamster ball adapted to hold a waves of Luis Vidal’s majestic roof. cardboard plane, which he would roll Wilson’s work focuses on for anyone interested in seeing the deceptively simple ideas that can be inspiration for a tumbling aircraft. easily understood and experienced. Wilson also brought his trademark With Slipstream, his largest permanent hands-on approach, refusing to work in the UK to date, he has set out devolve responsibility for Slipstream’s a distinctive narrative for Heathrow: construction entirely to the fabricator travel is liberating, exhilarating and and engineer. Instead he encouraged gravity-defying – and the closest thing a collaborative process from the to magic for those of us who don’t know outset to find solutions that were both how to build or fly a plane.