Louise K Wilson

Qualifications  BA (Hons) Fine Art University of Northumbria, MFA Studio Arts (Open Media) Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

Department/School  Art

Position  Part-time Lecturer Fine Art

Research Group  Fine Art

Web Address  http://www.iniva.org/archive/person/238 and http://www.spacearts.info/en/db/get_artist.php?id=56

I graduated with an MFA (Studio Arts) from Concordia University, Montreal in 1996 and am currently a Doctoral student in Visual Art at the University of Derby. For the PhD I am using sound (recording and analysis) as a methodology to explore the cultural and architectural heritage of the Cold War. I have been teaching part-time at Lincoln since 2004.

My artwork takes the form of installations, sound pieces, live events and videos. For many years I have been exploring perceptual, social and cultural aspects of science and technology. Processes of research are central to this practice and I have frequently involved the participation of individuals from industry, museums, medicine and scientific research in the making of work. Previous associations have included the Montreal Neurological Institute, the Science Museum, the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training facility in Moscow, the RSPB and the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. My published writing includes an interview with Paul Virilio (CTHEORY, 1994), a commissioned essay for ‘Private Views: Artists Working Today’ (Serpents Tail, 2004) and artist pages for ‘Zero Gravity - A Cultural Users Guide’ (Arts Catalyst, Cornerhouse books 2005).

Recent Work

• ‘Runway/ Spadeadam’, a one-person show of two new video pieces at Gallery TPW, Toronto, Canada (2003).
   
• ‘Artists Airshow’, RAE Farnborough, a site-specific audio and video installation for an Arts Catalyst one-day event (2004).
   
• ‘Euphony’ a video commissioned by Cornerhouse for the Bigger Picture, BBC screen at Exchange Square, Manchester (2005).
   
• ‘A Record of Fear’, sound and video pieces made for NT Orford Ness, Suffolk, as part of Contemporary Art in Historic Places, a partnership project between the National Trust, English Heritage and Commissions East, supported by the Arts Council (2005).
   
• ‘Aerial Stories’ a downloadable DIFFUSION eBook for the Liquid Geographies series, Proboscis, London (forthcoming 2006)

Current Research

My practice typically involves an immersive process, which is evident in finished pieces where the viewer may become a surrogate participant. Some recent video and broadcast audio pieces have sprung from a curiosity about how the technology of flight affects our physiological states and psychological selves. To this end I have participated in a movement experiment in zero gravity (Arts Catalyst 2001-5), co-opted a team of air traffic controllers in formation cycling on an airport runway (for the Arena project, 2003) and been a passenger in an aerobatics plane repeatedly looping the loop in Northumbria airspace (for Artists’ Airshow, 2004).

One aspect of my practice that I am seeking to develop through a range of different strategies and dialogues is an examination of certain spaces through the recording of sound. Essentially I am using sound as a primary methodology for exploring Cold War sites. I am curious about the possibilities of combining a number of different audio strands and sources to explore certain material artefacts and physical remains and talk to the people who once inhabited them. As such I want to touch upon the idea of recording corporeal memory and sensory accounts to respond to a historical era within living memory that continues to touch lives in complex ways. I wonder how artists’ responses can be used to make sense of a period of fear and dangerous technological advance.

Images of Work (Click on images to expand)