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Transcript of Wilson Catalog Def
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j & w
EDICIONES UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA
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EDICIONES UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA
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6 []m th wd. th w f jd w
Barry Barker
7 []zd md. b d j w
Barry Barker
17 t t, 2000
31 pt, t, , bzzd, 2000
39 dm tm, 2001
48 t-ftt mh: thht th phtph f j d w
F. Javier Panera
49 m tftt: db ftf d j d
w F. Javier Panera
57 f ht, 2003
68 tw wth j d w Mary Horlock
69 tt j w Mary Horlock
82 ht f th ft th p f db t (d f
j d w) carlos Trigueros
83 ftm d ft pd db d (d d
j w ) carlos Trigueros
99 bf | bph
109 d d m | pt dx
d | dx
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Forourhouseisourcorneroftheworld.Ashasoften
beensaid,itisourfirstuniverse,arealcosmosinevery
senseoftheword.
The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard (Beacon Press,
Boston, 1969)
T
his quotation from Gaston Bachelard provides a
metaphor, which can usefully serve as a description
for the scope and breadth of the video and
photographic works of Jane and Louise Wilson.
Bachelards house implies an intimate and familiar
space that exists within the larger context of an unfamiliar
universe; it is a universe which is known to be some
where, waiting to be explored. It is also implicit in his
statement, that the concept of the house, however
familiar and comprehended, as a space can also be a
cosmos of as yet unknown experiences and emotions.
All spaces, whether they are created by a natural process
within a landscape or are planned and built as part of an
architectural environment, acquire a history, a meaning and
a significance which touches the imagination of those who
inhabit them and those who deliberately seek them out.
Places and spaces accumulate memory; an atmosphere
created not only through human occupation but also by
the events of history and the political significance that
surrounds and passes through them. The use and function
that a building has been associated with throughout time
informs any understanding of a public or private response
to its significance. Whenever a structure or a building
goes through a change of use or is abandoned due to
economic and political collapse or is ravaged by military
conflict, there is always a residue of memory and images
remaining within its walls. By taking this phenomenological
approach to our surroundings it is possible to integrate into
an extended context our reading of the many dispersed
images that we experience.
Our personal environment is almost literally our
corner of the world into which the unfamiliar comes
to us through extensive media coverage of images and
information via a complex technological network. It is
a communications network that appears to have no
boundaries, from one side of the globe to another as well
as into outer space and back. Even without first hand
experience there are few reasons not to be aware of the
global context within which we live. The images seen on
television screens together with the photographs published
in newspapers extend our knowledge of world events and
provoke our intellect and emotions. But what is it we are
looking at and where is it? Its not here and it appears to
be nowhere. In fact we are looking at an image, which has
been distanced from the object. An image of something
that has disappeared, that the world has abandoned but
[]m th wd.th w f j d wBarry Barker
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Porquenuestracasaesnuestrorincndelmundo.Como
amenudosehadicho,esnuestroprimeruniverso.Esunverdaderocosmos,uncosmosentodoslossentidosde
lapalabra.
La potica del espacio, Gaston Bachelard1
Esta cita de Gaston Bachelard contiene una metfora
que puede servirnos como descripcin del alcance
y la amplitud de las obras de vdeo y fotografa de
Jane y Louise Wilson.
La casa de Bachelard implica un espacio ntimo
y familiar que existe dentro del contexto ms amplio de
un universo no-familiar; es un universo que sabemos
que est en alguna parte, aguardando ser explorado.
De su afirmacin tambin se deduce que el concepto
de casa, por muy familiar que sea y por muy bien que
lo comprendamos, como espacio puede siempre ser
un cosmos de experiencias y emociones que todava
desconocemos. Todos los espacios, tanto si son creados
mediante un proceso natural dentro de un paisaje como si
son planificados y construidos como parte de un entorno
arquitectnico, adquieren una historia, un significado y una
importancia que espolean la imaginacin de aquellos que
los habitan y de aquellos que los buscan deliberadamente.
Los lugares y los espacios acumulan memoria: una
atmsfera creada no slo por la ocupacin humana, sino
tambin por los acontecimientos histricos y el significado
poltico que los rodea y pasa a travs de ellos. El uso y la
funcin con los que un edificio ha sido asociado a lo largo
de los aos influyen en cualquier comprensin de una
respuesta pblica o privada ante su importancia. Siempre
que una estructura o edificio experimenta un cambio de
funcin o es abandonado debido a una crisis econmica
o poltica o es arrasado por un conflicto militar, hay un
residuo de memoria e imgenes que permanece dentro
de sus muros. Adoptando ese enfoque fenomenolgico
frente a nuestro entorno, es posible integrar en un
contexto ms amplio nuestra lectura de las mltiples
imgenes dispersas que percibimos.
Nuestro entorno personal es, casi literalmente,
nuestro rincn del mundo, en el que lo no-familiar nos
llega a travs de una extensiva cobertura meditica de
imgenes e informacin gracias a una compleja red
tecnolgica. Es una red de comunicaciones que parece
no tener fronteras, de un lado al otro del globo, as como
hacia el espacio exterior y de vuelta. Aun careciendo de
experiencias de primera mano, existen pocas razones
para no darse cuenta del contexto global en el que
vivimos. Las imgenes de las pantallas televisivas, junto
a las fotografas publicadas en los peridicos, amplan
nuestro conocimiento de los acontecimientos mundiales
y estimulan nuestro intelecto y emociones. Pero, qu
estamos viendo y dnde est? No est aqu y parece no
estar en ninguna parte. De hecho, estamos viendo una
imagen que se ha distanciado del objeto. Una imagen de
algo que ha desaparecido, que el mundo ha abandonado,
pero que ahora regresa. En el proceso, la imagen se ha
[]zd md. b dj w Barry Barker
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has now returned. In the process the image has redefined
itself and now carries many other layers of significance.
To establish a starting point from which to begin their
journey, Jane and Louise Wilson began several years ago
to photograph what was familiar, such as places near to
where they lived, their flat and hotel rooms. But as they
say in their interview with Mary Horlock: Inevitably a shift
occurred, where we wanted to explore more complex and
maybe more troubling spaces. At this early stage in thedevelopment of their work they show an awareness and
understanding of a conceptual framework, whereby a
space can, through their intervention as artists, be made
to signify and capture more than the physical reality of the
place itself. It is the particularity of the conceptual framework
that the Wilsons utilize in their work, together with the
loaded cultural identity that surrounds the locations, that
enables them to produce images that exist in their own
right independent of the objects depicted. These images
go beyond objective description and do not emphasize
picturesque features but rather represent the traces of past
and present activity, sometimes suggesting concepts of
dilapidation and abandonment. The images exist as if they
are attached to a place rather than being a representation of
it. They provoke within the viewer a consciousness, which
is like that of observing a projection of a psychological
phenomenon. Although in most of the still images, figures
are absent there is always a sense of a past occupation
or a current absence. The photographs appear to have a
heightened sensitivity to the lives and daydreams of the
previous inhabitants of a chosen location. The images
produced by the camera are transformations of the artists
perception rather than factual representations of a space.
These images reveal an entirely new structural formation
of the subject, which produces within the viewer, an
alternative and extended sense of authenticity. The artists
use of the still camera however planned and deliberate,in some respects produces photographic representations
that introduces the concept of an unconscious vision,
similar in function to the way that psychoanalysis can make
us aware of our unconscious impulses. It is as if for the
moment of exposure the aspirations and dreams of those
connected to the space are registered via a technological
process. The resulting photographs evoke in the viewer
a consciousness that suppresses the idea of narrativein favor of a passivity that allows a live and imaginative
relationship with the image.
Jane and Louise Wilsons journey of exploration
which began close to home has taken them as far afield
as Star City, a cosmonaut training centre just outside
of Moscow, Russia and the Baikonur cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan. Two locations that by definition are built of
dreams and aspirations and founded for the people of
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redefinido y, en la actualidad, cuenta con muchos otros
estratos de significado.
Para establecer un punto de partida a partir del
cual comenzar su viaje, hace algunos aos Jane y
Louise Wilson empezaron a fotografiar lo que les era
familiar, como lugares cerca de donde vivan, su piso y
habitaciones de hotel. Sin embargo, como afirman en su
entrevista con Mary Horlock: Inevitablemente, se produjo
un cambio, queramos explorar espacios ms complejos y
tal vez ms inquietantes.En esa fase inicial de desarrollode su obra, se muestran conscientes y conocedoras de la
existencia de un marco conceptual por el que un espacio,
mediante su intervencin como artistas, puede llegar a
significar y captar ms que la realidad fsica del lugar en
s. La particularidad del marco conceptual que Jane y
Louise Wilson utilizan en su trabajo, adems de la cargada
identidad cultural que rodea las localizaciones, es lo que
les permite producir imgenes que existen por propio
derecho, independientemente de los objetos reproducidos.
Esas imgenes van ms all de la descripcin objetiva y
no resaltan los rasgos pintorescos sino que ms bien
representan las huellas de la actividad pasada y presente,
sugiriendo en ocasiones conceptos de ruina y abandono.
Las imgenes existen como si estuvieran ligadas al lugar
ms que como representacin de dicho lugar. Provocan
en el espectador un estado de conciencia que es como
el que experimentamos al observar la proyeccin de
un fenmeno psicolgico. Aunque en la mayora de las
fotografas no aparecen figuras humanas, se tiene siempre
la sensacin de ocupacin pasada o de ausencia actual.
Las fotografas parecen tener una sensibilidad acentuada
respecto a las vidas y las ensoaciones de los anteriores
habitantes de la localizacin elegida. Las imgenes creadas
por la cmara son transformaciones de la percepcin de
las artistas ms que representaciones factuales de un
espacio. Esas imgenes revelan una formacin estructural
completamente nueva del tema, lo que produce en el
espectador una sensacin alternativa y ampliada de
autenticidad. No obstante, el uso de la cmara fija por
parte de las artistas, planificado y deliberado, en variossentidos, da lugar a representaciones fotogrficas que
introducen el concepto de visin inconsciente, con una
funcin similar a la del psicoanlisis, que puede hacernos
conscientes de nuestros impulsos inconscientes. Es como
si durante ese momento de exposicin, las aspiraciones
y sueos de aquellos que estn relacionados con el
espacio se registraran mediante un proceso tecnolgico.
Las fotografas resultantes evocan en el espectador una
consciencia que suprime la idea de narracin en favorde una pasividad que permite establecer una viva e
imaginativa relacin con la imagen.
El viaje de exploracin de Jane y Louise Wilson,
que comenz en las proximidades de su hogar, las ha
llevado a un lugar tan remoto como Star City, un centro de
entrenamiento de cosmonautas a las afueras de Mosc,
Rusia, y al cosmdromo de Baikonur en Kazajstn. Dos
localizaciones que, por definicin, estn hechas de
sueos y aspiraciones y que fueron fundadas para la
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10
the future. Both these locations have been built to project,
physically and metaphorically, humankinds desire to
experience and inhabit another space. The photographic
images that the artists have produced from these locations
can be described as what remains of the residue of these
lofty aspirations. Although both places still function and
have their use, the artists focus the viewers attention
on a strange authenticity which is more mundane and
unfamiliar than we are lead to expect from the more usual
media coverage of space exploration. The ironic quality inmuch of the Wilsons photographic work is that whatever
unfamiliar location they choose to explore, however remote
from our experience, they are capable of producing
images that seem strangely intimate.
One such image is Changing Room,
Hydrolaboratorium, Star City, 2000. It shows a corner
of a room with a bank of well-used wooden lockers and
a couple of benches. The drawn curtains at the windows,
which filter the sunlight and veil the outside world from view,
subdue the lighting and atmosphere. The silhouette of the
potted plant is the only reminder of a natural environment.
This room evokes the beginning of a transition from one
world to another, and is a reminder of what will be left
behind. In this case literally the garments and souvenirs
of every day life that will remain in these lockers while their
inhabitants prepare to re-attire for the rigors of a simulated
environment. The intimacy held within this image is a
reminder of our own memories whether it be changing for
a sporting activity or to don protective clothing in order to
begin a working shift in a mine or factory. In contrast the
work Skarfaundary, Star City, 2000, juxtaposes within
the one image the sophistication of scientific research,
symbolized by the empty space suits and the ordinariness
of the familiar domestic storage units that they rest upon.
These are both images of transition stripped of narrative.
We are invited to observe but not take part. As too havethe artists, who have not intervened or arranged any of
the images other than with their presence behind the
eye of the camera. The undiluted authenticity of these
two photographs provides the context in which we can
assimilate the other images in this series.
At first glance, Cosmonaut Suits, Mir, Star City,
2000, is a photograph that we are more accustomed
to expect from the documentary coverage of space
exploration. It could be a depiction of a tableau that might
be encountered in a science museum, but as we focus
our attention on the image we become aware of it having
a different significance. The orange structure that supports
the suites is obviously utilitarian and together with the
context of the rest of the apparatus creates the impression
of function and procedure rather than that of mere display.
The drawn back curtains in the foreground not only act
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gente del futuro. Ambas localizaciones se han construido
para proyectar, fsica y metafricamente, el deseo delser humano de experimentar y habitar otro espacio. Las
imgenes fotogrficas que las artistas han producido a
partir de esas localizaciones pueden describirse como lo
que queda de los residuos de esas elevadas aspiraciones.
Aunque ambos lugares siguen en funcionamiento y poseen
una utilidad, las artistas centran la atencin del espectador
en una extraa autenticidad que es ms prosaica y menos
familiar que lo que podramos esperar tras haber visto las
imgenes ms habituales de los medios de comunicacinde la exploracin espacial. La cualidad irnica de gran
parte de la obra fotogrfica de Jane y Louise Wilson reside
en que no importa lo poco familiar que sea la localizacin
que eligen explorar, por muy ajena que sea a nuestra
experiencia, es capaz de producir imgenes que resultan
extraamente ntimas.
Una de estas imgenes es Changing Room,
Hydrolaboratorium, Star City, 2000. Muestra la esquina de
una habitacin con una serie de taquillas de madera muy
usadas y un par de bancos. Las cortinas de las ventanas,
que estn echadas, filtrando la luz solar y velando nuestra
visin del mundo exterior, suavizan la luz y la atmsfera.
La silueta de la planta en el tiesto slo es un recordatorio
de un entorno natural. Esta habitacin evoca el comienzo
de una transicin de un mundo a otro y es un recordatorio
de lo que se dejar atrs. En este caso, literalmente
las prendas y los recuerdos de la vida cotidiana, que
se quedarn en esas taquillas mientras sus habitantes
cambian de atuendo para adaptarse a los rigores de
un entorno simulado. La intimidad que encierra estaimagen nos trae a la mente nuestros propios recuerdos,
ya sea del momento de cambiarnos para practicar un
deporte, como de ataviarnos con ropa protectora con
el fin de comenzar un turno de trabajo en una mina o
una fbrica. En contraste, la obra Skarfaundary, Star
City, 2000, yuxtapone dentro de una sola imagen la
sofisticacin de la investigacin cientfica, simbolizada
por los trajes espaciales vacos, y la cotidianeidad de las
familiares unidades de almacenamiento domstico sobrelas que descansan. Ambas son imgenes de transicin
despojadas de narrativa. Se nos invita a observar pero no
a participar. De la misma manera que a las artistas, que
no han intervenido u organizado ninguna de las imgenes
aparte de con su presencia detrs del ojo de la cmara.
La autenticidad no diluida de esas dos fotografas nos
facilita el contexto en el que podemos asimilar las otras
imgenes de esta serie.
A primera vista, Cosmonaut Suits, Mir, Star City,
2000,es una fotografa que estamos ms acostumbrados
a esperar de la cobertura documental de la exploracin
espacial. Podra ser una reproduccin de una escena
con la que podemos toparnos en un museo de ciencias,
pero al centrar nuestra atencin en la imagen nos
damos cuenta de que tiene un significado diferente. La
estructura naranja que sustenta los trajes es claramente
funcional y, junto con el contexto del resto del aparato,
crea la impresin de funcionamiento y procedimiento
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as a framing device for the image but also emphasis the
deliberate act of revealing something in particular, while
by contrast, in Changing Room the curtains are used to
maintain privacy. In both these images the viewer becomes
aware that the content of the work is closely connected
to the act of observing and revealing as well as that of
representation. The work,Rising I.S.S.,Hydrolaboratorium.
Star City, 2000, reveals a simulated world unified as an
image by a blue veil. The object in this photograph is a
fragment of a space station submerged in a tank of waterin which cosmonauts experience working in the weightless
atmosphere of space. This image establishes a boundary
beyond which our personal experience can not take us
and for the majority it is left to the realm of imagination that
will transport us further.
Space travel itself is a metaphor for the desire to
venture to another place, and to explore far into a space
that has no boundaries. Yet there is the one boundary
that is determined by the ability to return to earth, to what
we know and what is familiar. Whether the journey is
real or imaginary there remains the question of what has
changed during this absence? It could be nothing more
than the difference in our perception of what was familiar
and a stronger awareness of our memories. Through
their work, Jane and Louise Wilson take the viewer into
unfamiliar and possibly in some cases strange territory butwith their guidance we do not loose sight of reality and
through their authorship we become aware of the plurality
of meaning that the images convey. Their work offers us
the opportunity to integrate their vision into our corner of
the worldwhile extending the understanding of our own
visual experience.
The irony for many a traveler can be that however
far they journey, a place near to home can carry as much
fascination and significance as that from which they have
returned. This is true for Jane and Louise Wilson when theyrediscovered a factory close to their origins in Newcastle
that had been developed as a purpose-built space for the
manufacture of microchips. The series of works that their
encounter with this space produced is visually far removed
from that ofStar City, however in theoretical and possibly
unconscious terms there is a connection. Both places
suggest thoughts relating to the concepts of fabrication
and survival. In Star City the objective is to fabricate the
conditions and atmosphere of outer space so that it can
become a familiar environment for those selected to work
within it. Ironically in the Atmel series of photographs we
are aware that these spaces are not for the benefit of
those humans working within them. But are the results of
an environment orientated towards the fabrication by mass
automation of tiny units that are manufactured to function
within a remote technological context. The relevance to
the concept of survival in the context of this environment isone of being economic in as much as the redevelopment
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ms que de mera exposicin. Las negras cortinas
descorridas en primer plano no slo actan como unmarco para la imagen, sino tambin resaltan el acto
deliberado de revelar algo en particular, mientras que, por
el contrario, en Changing Room las cortinas se emplean
para mantener la intimidad. En ambas imgenes, el
espectador cobra conciencia de que el contenido de
la obra est estrechamente relacionado con el acto de
observar y revelar, as como con el de la representacin.
La obra,Rising I.S.S, Hydrolaboratorium. Star City,2000,
revela un mundo simulado unificado como imagen por unvelo azul. El objeto que aparece en esta fotografa es un
fragmento de estacin espacial sumergido en un tanque
de agua en el que los cosmonautas experimentan lo que
supone trabajar en la atmsfera ingrvida del espacio.
Esta imagen establece una frontera ms all de la cual
nuestra experiencia personal no puede llevarnos y para
la mayora queda en el reino de la imaginacin, que nos
transportar an ms lejos.
En s mismos, los viajes espaciales son una metforadel deseo de aventurarnos en otro lugar y de explorar un
espacio que no tiene fronteras. No obstante, hay una
frontera que viene determinada por la capacidad de
regresar a la tierra, a lo que conocemos y nos es familiar.
Tanto si el viaje es real como si es imaginario, la pregunta
de qu ha cambiado durante esa ausencia permanece
abierta. Probablemente nada ms que la diferencia en
nuestra percepcin de lo que era familiar y una conciencia
ms intensa de nuestros recuerdos. A travs de suobra, Jane y Louise Wilson llevan al espectador hacia
un territorio que no le es familiar y que posiblemente, en
algunos casos, sea extrao, pero con su orientacin noperdemos de vista la realidad y, a travs de su autora, nos
percatamos de la pluralidad de significados que transmiten
las imgenes. Su obra nos ofrece la oportunidad de
integrar su visin en nuestro rincn del mundo a la vez
que extendemos la comprensin de nuestra experiencia
visual.
La irona para muchos viajeros puede ser que,
no importa lo lejos que viajen, un lugar cerca del hogarpuede encerrar tanta fascinacin y significado como el
lugar del que han regresado. Ese es el caso de Jane
y Louise Wilson, que redescubrieron una fbrica cerca
de sus orgenes en Newcastle que ha sido renovada,
transformndose en un espacio absolutamente funcional
para la fabricacin de microchips. La serie de obras que
produjo su encuentro con este espacio est muy alejada
visualmente de Star City, aunque en trminos tericos
y posiblemente inconscientes, existe una conexin.
Ambos lugares sugieren pensamientos en relacin conlos conceptos de fabricacin y supervivencia. En Star
City, el objetivo es fabricar las condiciones y la atmsfera
del espacio exterior de forma que pueda convertirse en
un entorno familiar para aquellos seleccionados para
trabajar all. Irnicamente, en la serie de fotografas de
Atmel, somos conscientes de que esos espacios no
sirven para el beneficio de los seres humanos que trabajan
en la fbrica, sino que son los resultados de un entorno
orientado hacia la produccin automatizada en masade unidades diminutas que se fabrican para funcionar
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of this factory brought a continuity of employment to the
area of the North East of England that would other wise
be lacking. In contrast the cosmonaut-training program
is literally orientated to the survival of human life within a
physically alien environment.
The workSafe Light Corridor, 2003 is an image that
could justifiably produce in our mind thoughts of a futuristic
world but the lack of any trace of human activity does not
encourage memories of such places only perhaps in our
dreams. All the photographs in this series produce this
effect which emanates a certain distance from the image.
However close we get to a work such as Safe Light,
Reflected Ballroom, 2003 there is the awareness that we
can go no further and to do so would be to threaten its
sterility and sequentially its meaning. These works reveal
a great deal as to the authenticity of Jane and Louise
Wilsons vision in that those viewing these images are
sometimes strangely conscious of what cannot be seen
while remaining positively aware of the perspective from
which they are looking. It is the word Ballroom that the
artists have utilized in the titles of these works that brings
a human presence into the images and introduces the
memory of a more familiar context.
What the work of these artists does is to evoke
and quicken our own experience and memory. Memories,
which are motionless, linked to the experience of space
rather than time. The place where we were brought up
as a child or where we first lived as an adult can always
be evoked if necessary when we venture further afield
and feel a sense of insecurity and need the comfort of
familiarity. The images that the Wilsons create however
strange to us at first sight are true to the boundaries of
their own experience. It is as if the viewer is able to return
aspects of these images back to a place that is familiar to
their own experience.
Barry Barker, Centre for Contemporary and Visual Art (CCVA),
University of Brighton.
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dentro de un contexto tecnolgico remoto. La relevancia
del concepto de supervivencia en el contexto de esteentorno es el de ser rentable en la medida en que la
reforma de esa fbrica permiti la continuidad del empleo
en el rea del Noreste de Inglaterra, que no se habra
producido de otra manera. Por el contrario, el programa de
entrenamiento del cosmonauta est literalmente orientado
a la supervivencia de la vida humana dentro de un entorno
fsicamente alienante.
La obra Safe Light Corridor, 2003, es una imagen quepodra, con razn, llenar nuestra mente de pensamientos
de un mundo futurista, pero la falta de cualquier huella de
actividad humana no despierta recuerdos de tales lugares,
slo tal vez en nuestros sueos. Todas las fotografas en
esta serie producen ese efecto, que provoca una cierta
distancia de la imagen. Por mucho que nos acerquemos
a una obra como Safe Light, Reflected Ballroom, 2003,
existe una conciencia de que no podemos ir ms all
y que hacerlo sera amenazar su esterilidad y, de forma
subsecuente, su significado. Esas obras revelan granparte de la autenticidad de la visin de Jane y Louise
Wilson puesto que los que ven esas imgenes a veces
son extraamente conscientes de lo que no puede verse,
a la vez que son claramente conscientes de la perspectiva
desde la que estn mirando. Es la palabra Ballroom (sala
de baile), que las artistas han utilizado en los ttulos de
esas obras, la que introduce una presencia humana en
las imgenes e introduce el recuerdo de un contexto ms
familiar.
Lo que hace la obra de estas artistas es evocar
y acelerar nuestra propia experiencia y recuerdos. Losrecuerdos, que son inmviles, ligados a la experiencia
del espacio ms que a la del tiempo. El lugar en el que
crecimos de nios o en el que vivimos por primera vez
de adultos siempre puede evocarse si es necesario
cuando nos aventuramos en otros lugares y tenemos
sensacin de inseguridad y necesitamos el consuelo de
la familiaridad. Las imgenes que Jane y Louise Wilson
crean, aunque nos resulten extraas a primera vista, son
fieles a las fronteras de su propia experiencia. Es comosi el espectador fuera capaz de devolver aspectos de
esas imgenes a un lugar que es familiar a su propia
experiencia.
Barry Barker, Centre for Contemporary and Visual Art (CCVA),
Universidad de Brighton.
1 N.T.: Traduccin del original francs:La potique de lespace (Presses
Universitaires de France, Pars,1974).
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pt,t,
,bzzd
2000
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2001
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It could be pure coincidence, but a little over two years
ago, almost at the same time that I saw Jane and Louise
Wilsons photographs and videos from the series Star
CityandDream Time, on 19th March 2001, the American
Fox TV channel broadcast a programme presented by
Mitch Pileggi an actor from the popular TV series The
X-Files. The series, Conspiracy Theory: Did we land on
the moon? questioned the authenticity of the voyages
made to the moon by American astronauts during the
sixties, explaining that the famous images of the moon
landing in 1969 were purely a clumsy conspiracy in orderto reaffirm Americas technological superiority over the
Russians. Paradoxically, the different technical points used
to question the veracity of the moon landings revolved
around the background settings and lighting of the
photographs supposedly taken by the astronauts.
Almost at the same time, on 12th April 2001, the
anniversary of the first manned space flight, the Russian
dailyPravda surprised the world with the revelation thatYuri Gagarin was not the first man sent to space. Between
1957 and 1959 another three pilots had been sent there
but had died in the attempt, just as it was revealed that the
dog Laika, famous for oribiting the earth in a space ship
over the period of a week, had actually died of a heart
attack caused by panic just a few hours after take off...
Obviously these types of failures could not be admitted
publicly by either of the superpowers since it would run
against the technological triumphalism which formed an
essential part of the strategic propaganda of the Cold
War.
In November 2002, when I began to write this essay
on the photographic work of Jane and Louise Wilson,
it emerged that NASA had commissioned the reputed
engineer and popular scientist James E. Oberg to write
a book whose mission was to scientifically demonstrate
to sceptical citizens that man had really stepped onto
the moon. This reminded me of a book published in
1997 by the Spanish photographer Joan Fontcuberta
entitled Sputnik in which the life of a fictional astronaut
was recreated actually Fontcuberta himself through
the recycling and manipulation of old photographs from
the Soviet space race. In this context it should be
remembered that the space race was one of the great
propaganda tools of the Cold War period, the technology
of the space rockets were similar to the long range missiles
which formed the backbone of the nuclear arsenal of the
United States and Russia. Today we also know that some
of the giant missiles presented at the military parades held
annually in Moscow and promptly broadcast through our
televisions, were little more than papier-mch models,
created in order to perpetuate the sense of insecurity
and collective psychosis within the populations of the two
major blocks.
I have made this lengthy introduction because a
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Puede que sea una coincidencia, pero hace algo
ms de dos aos, casi por las mismas fechas
en que vi por primera vez las fotografas y los
vdeos de las series Star City yDream Time de Jane
and Louise Wilson, el 19 de marzo de 2001, la cadena
norteamericana de televisin Fox emiti un programa
presentado por Mitch Pileggi, actor de la popular serie
Expediente X, que llevaba por ttulo Conspiracy Theory,
Did we land on the moon?, (La teora de la conspiracin:
Hemos aterrizado en la luna?), en el cual se cuestionaba
la veracidad de los viajes a la luna llevados a cabo en
los aos sesenta por los astronautas norteamericanos,
explicando las famosas imgenes del alunizaje de
1969, como una burda conspiracin para reafirmar la
superioridad tecnolgica de los americanos sobre los
rusos. Paradjicamente, eran diferentes consideraciones
tcnicas en torno a los encuadres y la iluminacin de las
fotografas supuestamente tomadas por los astronautas lo
que se utilizaba como argumento para poner en duda la
verosimilitud del alunizaje.
Casi de un modo simultneo, el 12 de abril de
2001, aniversario del primer viaje tripulado al espacio, el
diario rusoPravda sorprenda al mundo con la revelacin
de que Yuri Gagarin no fue el primer hombre enviado al
espacio; entre 1957 y 1959 se haban enviado a otros
tres pilotos soviticos que murieron en sus respectivas
tentativas, del mismo modo se desvel que la perra Laika,
famosa por orbitar en una nave espacial durante una
semana alrededor de la tierra, haba muerto a las pocas
horas del despegue de un ataque al corazn provocado
por el pnico... obviamente este tipo de fracasos no
podan ser admitidos pblicamente por ninguna de las
dos superpotencias pues chocaban con el triunfalismo
tecnolgico que requera la estrategia propagandstica de
la Guerra Fra.
En noviembre de 2002, cuando comenc a redactar
este ensayo a propsito del trabajo fotogrfico de Jane and
Louise Wilson, sali a la luz la noticia de que la NASA haba
encargado al reputado ingeniero y divulgador cientficoJames E. Oberg que escribiese un libro en el cual tena
la misin de demostrar cientficamente a los ciudadanos
escpticos que el hombre haba pisado verdaderamente
la luna y esto me hizo recordar un libro publicado en
1997 por el fotgrafo espaol Joan Fontcuberta que
llevaba por ttulo Sputniken el cual se recreaba la vida
de un astronauta ficticio el propio Fontcuberta- a partir
de la reutilizacin y manipulacin de viejas fotografas
relacionadas con la carrera espacial sovitica. En estecontexto no hay que olvidar que la carrera espacial fue uno
de los grandes escaparates propagandsticos del periodo
de la Guerra Fra, la tecnologa de los cohetes espaciales
era similar a la de los misiles de largo alcance que
formaban la columna vertebral del arsenal armamentstico
nuclear de Estados Unidos y la Unin Sovitica. Hoy
sabemos igualmente, que algunos de los gigantescos
misiles que se presentaban en los escenogrficos desfiles
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large part of the work carried out by Jane and Louise
Wilson in recent years has been dedicated to exploring
the sociological means and visual and scenic mechanisms
that those in power employ in order to generate paranoia
about security, access to information and political, military
and technological control.
The photographs in the series Star CityandProton,
Unity, Energy, Blizzard and the video Dream time were
taken between 2000 and 2001 at a training centre
for cosmonauts on the outskirts of Moscow now in
disuse and at a space centre located in the south of
Kazakhstan kept secret during the times of the defunct
USSR with its launch platforms and rocket mounting
units, practically abandoned since the end of the Cold
War. The seductively retro-futuristic aesthetic which the
Wilsons invest into the images of the hydrolaboratorium,
the machine rooms where gravity was simulated, and the
launch platforms, serve as a counterpoint to the decadent
snapshots of antiquated looking waiting rooms with damppatches and chipped plaster walls, rusting machinery,
abandoned laboratories or a disturbing changing room
where we can make out various space suits carefully
placed on the shelves of a Formica cupboard like bodies
in a catacomb.
With the end of the great stories we are forced to live
with ruins of complex temporality which confront us with
phantasmal appearances; the fears and paranoia from a
not-too-distant time in the past which still sit within our
collective consciousness and come to the surface when
we contemplate these types of non-places created by
the abandoned space centres from the defunct USSR.
Despite their extreme coldness, by taking us back as
they do to the failure of the last utopia of modernity
the conquest of space and the climate of insecurity
and collective psychosis that led to the development
of atomic and nuclear powers during the 60s and 70s
these images can only be read as melancholic and why
not? romantic. The image of the diving suits abandonedin the wardrobe would in this sense function as a kind of
retro-futuristic memento mori.
Today, the figures of the astronauts and interplanetary
spaceships have become little less than mythological
players of a recent past, which for a long time functioned
as a metaphor for the changes which took place in
technologically advanced societies. But they also represent
the uncertainty of the unknown, which, in some ways,could be seen as part of the same mythical mindset that
figured so strongly in the characters of espionage and
counter-espionage operating in West Berlin during the
Cold War, which have also been evoked by the Wilsons
in earlier works such as Stasi City.
Through the hypnotic photographs and the disturbing
videos produced by Jane and Louise Wilson, we are
brought closer, with extraordinary clarity and a barely
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militares celebrados anualmente en Mosc y emitidos
puntualmente por nuestras televisiones, eran poco menos
que simulacros de cartn piedra, creados para perpetuar
un sentimiento de inseguridad y sicosis colectiva entre la
poblacin de los pases que integraban los dos grandes
bloques.
He hecho esta larga introduccin porque buena
parte del trabajo realizado en los ltimos aos por Jane and
Louise Wilson se ha consagrado a explorar los resortes
sicolgicos y los mecanismos visuales y escenogrficos
que utiliza el poder para generar paranoias en torno a laseguridad, el acceso a la informacin, el control poltico,
militar y tecnolgico.
Las fotografas de las series Star City yProton,
Unity, Energy, Blizzard y el vdeo Dream time, fueron
tomadas entre los aos 2000 y 2001, en un centro de
entrenamiento para astronautas situado a las afueras
de Mosc que hoy se encuentra en desuso, y en una
base espacial situada al sur de Kazajstn -secreta enlos tiempos de la extinta URSS- con sus plataformas
de lanzamiento y sus unidades de montaje de cohetes,
prcticamente abandonadas desde el final de la Guerra
Fra. La esttica, seductoramente retrofuturista con la que
estn revestidas las imgenes del hidrolaboratorium,
las salas de mquinas que simulan la gravedad o las
plataformas de lanzamiento, sirve de contrapunto a las
decadentes instantneas que muestran salas de espera
de aspecto anticuado con restos de humedad y las
paredes desconchadas, maquinaria oxidada, laboratorios
abandonados o un sobrecogedor vestuario en el que
apreciamos varios trajes de astronauta cuidadosamente
colocados sobre las baldas de un armario de formica
como si se tratara de cadveres en una catacumba.
Con el fin de los grandes relatos estamos obligados
a convivir con ruinas de temporalidad compleja que
nos confrontan con presencias fantasmales; con miedos
y paranoias de un periodo no muy lejano que todava
continan instalados en nuestro inconsciente colectivo y
afloran al contemplar esta especie de no lugares en quese han convertido las bases espaciales abandonadas de
la extinta URSS. A pesar de su extrema frialdad, la lectura
que puede hacerse de estas imgenes, que nos remiten al
fracaso de la ltima utopa de la modernidad: la conquista
del espacio y al clima de inseguridad y sicosis colectiva
que gener el desarrollo del poder atmico y nuclear en
los aos sesenta y setenta, no puede ser de otro modo
que melanclica y porqu no decirlo?: romntica. La
imagen de las escafandras abandonadas sobre el armariofuncionara en este sentido como una suerte de memento
mori retrofuturista.
Las figuras de los astronautas y las aeronaves
interplanetaras se han convertido hoy en poco menos
que personajes mitolgicos de un pasado reciente que
durante mucho tiempo funcionaron como metfora de los
cambios en las sociedades tecnolgicamente avanzadas,
pero tambin de la incertidumbre ante lo desconocido
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perceptible touch of irony, to the utopian contradictions
created during this period and to the complex sociological
mechanisms which were used by those in power and
which are being used again today, if we consider the
upheavals in international politics since 9/11 in order to
perpetuate their dominance.
The other photographic series that I would like
to comment on is entitled Safe Light, in which the
future is now and the utopias of modernity have been
substituted for the cold reality of postmodern technological
supremacy. Whoever has the technology holds the power;
they have the information and the knowledge, and, in the
short term, as suggested by films like The Matrix, they
have the possibility to create life from living fictions.
As pointed out by Vicente Verd in an article published
recently in the El Pas newspaper (Sunday 11th May,
2003), IBM has projected that by 2005, they will have
created Blue Gene which will be capable of transmitting
the complete contents of the Library of Congress of theUnited States in less than two seconds and of serving the
development of the life sciences industry with a potential
equivalent to the combination of 500 of the worlds largest
supercomputers Meanwhile, according to the renowned
Moore Law, by 2010, the hardware of the most developed
computer will be more powerful that the human brain
and in a few years, it will be within the capabilities of any
software.
Safe Light consists of six photographs taken in
Atmel, a hi-tech microchip factory. All dramatic and
narrative emphasis is kept to a minimum, the images
are devoid of any human presence, and the spaces
are bathed in a pale, yellow light evenly spread over
each section and each object until it is completely
denaturalised. Witnessing this rigorous formality with
which this world has been standardised real now, not
utopian consisting exclusively of computer monitors,
arteries of cables, shining metallic tubes, and furnishing
units set out in serene geometric order, reminds me ofan article recently published in Wired magazine by the
scientific executive ofMicrosytems, entitled Why the future
doesnt need us. His vision essentially harkened back
to what Kubrick anticipated in 2001- A Space Odyssey:
a disturbing reflection on our future-present which
reveals the impotence and perplexity of the individual
confronted with the technical domination over the spirit.
The rooms cleared of all human presence documented
in the photographs of Jane and Louise Wilson reflect thismoment in which man arrives at a state of emptiness and
depersonalisation which, in Kubricks film was filled by HAL
9000 (a name created by the two forms of thought and
communication: Heuristic and Algorithmic).
In this sense, Star City and Safe Light show the
two sides of the technological utopias created during the
20th and 21st centuries. The 20th century brought about
the development of nuclear, chemical and biological
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y de algn modo, se sitan en la misma tesitura mtica
que la figura del espa y el contraespa que operaban en
Berln Oriental en los tiempos de la Guerra fra, los cuales
tambin han sido evocados por las Wilson en trabajos
anteriores como Stasi City.
A travs de sus hipnticas fotografas y de sus
inquietantes vdeos Jane and Louise Wilson, se aproximan
con extraordinaria clarividencia y una pizca de irona casi
imperceptible a las contradicciones utpicas generadas
en este periodo y a los complejos mecanismos sicolgicos
que por entonces pero tambin hoy, segn comprobamosal analizar el giro dado por la poltica internacional tras el
11 de septiembre utilizaba el poder para perpetuarse en
el tiempo.
La otra serie fotogrfica que me interesa comentar
lleva por ttulo Safe Lighty en ella el futuro es hoy y las
utopas de la modernidad han sido sustituidas por la fra
realidad de la supremaca tecnolgica posmoderna. Quien
tiene la tecnologa tiene el poder, tiene la informacin yel conocimiento y a corto plazo, tal y como se propone
en pelculas como Matrix, la posibilidad de crear vida -o
ficciones de vida-. Segn sealaba Vicente Verd en un
artculo publicado recientemente en el peridico El Pas,
(Domingo, 11 de Mayo de 2003) IBM proyecta para
2005 su Blue Gene, un ordenador capaz de transmitir
el contenido completo de la Biblioteca del Congreso de
los Estados Unidos en menos de dos segundos y servir
al desarrollo de la industria de las ciencias de la vida con
una potencia superior a la suma de los 500 mayores
supercomputers del mundo... Complementariamente,
segn la conocida Ley de Moore, para 2010 el hardware
del ms desarrollado ordenador, superar el poder de la
mente humana y en pocos aos ser una conquista al
alcance de cualquiersoftware...
Safe Lightest integrada por seis fotografas tomadas
en Atmel, una planta de fabricacin de microchips de alta
tecnologa. Todo acento narrativo o dramtico es mnimo
en estas imgenes, privadas de cualquier presencia
humana, en las que los espacios aparecen baados poruna luz amarillenta que se distribuye homogneamente
por cada estancia y cada objeto hasta desnaturalizarlos
por completo. Viendo el rigor formal con el cual se
uniformiza este mundo real, ya no utpico integrado
exclusivamente por monitores de ordenador, arterias de
cables, tubos de brillo metlico y un mobiliario dispuesto
en sereno orden geomtrico, me viene a la memoria
otro artculo reciente, publicado en la revista Wired por el
cientfico jefe de la empresa Microsystems, que llevabapor ttuloPorqu el futuro no nos necesita (Why the future
doesnt need us), su visin restituye en esencia, lo que
Kubrick anticipaba en 2001 una odisea del espacio:
una reflexin inquietante sobre nuestro futuro-presente
que manifiesta la impotencia y perplejidad del individuo
ante la dominacin de la tcnica sobre el espritu. Las
habitaciones despojadas de presencia humana que
documentan las fotografas de Jane and Louise Wilson
reflejan ese instante en el cual el hombre llega a un estado
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technology so that in order to obtain power one needed
to be supplied with enormous quantities of raw materials,
information and formidable industrial installations. But in
the 21st century genetic, nano- and robotic technology do
not require such enormous resources because they are
designed to reproduce themselves We are implanting
the laws of biotechnology into places where Nature
doesnt have the opportunity to act, a scientist recently
commented at Cornell University, where they soon hope to
obtain molecular-sized computers and where bioscience
and robotics are being combined to design biometric
robots which can be programmed to reproduce At this
point, the world could continue without relying on humans,
it may come to a t ime when only the machines are capable
of creating life and storing knowledge, and only they are
able to reach a level of perfect fabrication
F. Javier Panera Center of Photograph. Universidad de
Salamanca
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de vaco y despersonalizacin que en el film de Kubrick
iba a ser llenado por el ordenador HAL 9000 (nombre
formado por la unin de los dos mtodos de conocimientoy comunicacin el Heurstico y el Algortmico).
Star CityySafe Lightmuestran en este sentido las
dos caras de las utopas tecnolgicas en los siglos XX y
XXI. El siglo XX potenci las tecnologas nuclear, qumica y
biolgica, que para ser potentes necesitaban abastecerse
de ingentes cantidades de materia prima, informacin e
instalaciones industriales formidables. Pero en el siglo XXI
la tecnologa gentica, la nanotecnologa y la robtica, nonecesitarn tantas dotaciones, porque sern diseadas
para reproducirse... Estamos implantando las leyes
de la Biotecnologa all donde la naturaleza no tiene
la oportunidad de actuar, sealaba recientemente un
cientfico de la Cornell University, donde se espera obtener
muy pronto ordenadores de talla molecular y donde
las biociencias y la robtica son utilizadas para disear
robots biomtricos programados para reproducirse...
Llegados a este punto el mundo podr seguir adelante sinla necesidad de humanos, pues llegar un momento en
el cual slo las mquinas sern capaces de crear vida y
almacenar conocimientos y slo ellas sern capaces de
alcanzar un nivel de fabricacin perfecta...
F. Javier Panera Centro de Fotografa. Universidad de Salamanca
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M
H: For this exhibition you are bringing together
two quite distinct bodies of photographic work,
created in and coming out of very differentlocations and contexts. Perhaps we should start by
discussing where they were taken.
LW: The earliest series was shot in Star City, just
outside Moscow, which we first visited in 1999. It was
a community dedicated to space travel, where they
developed a cosmonaut training programme under the
former Soviet regime. It is still a functioning training centre
for cosmonauts, only now of course it includes astronauts,since they are collaborating with the Americans on space
exploration.
JW: It was interesting that during Soviet times it was kept
secret and totally self-contained. We also photographed
in the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which was
again quite inaccessible. Both places were very important
for the regime, held up as shining examples of space,
progress, the future.
MH: So both sites are tied to an ideology, representing
the desire for power and supremacy, and part of the whole
Soviet propaganda machine. But it is also about myth in
the sense that they were remote and hidden, cut off from
daily life. Was your desire to expose or unpick the myth?
JW: We were very curious about [Star City] initially because
it was described as an architecture for the future, a
training ground for the people of the future. There was
this utopian vision, but also such a highly specialized
and incredibly focused training programme functioningat its core, with all these different buildings within which
various environments and conditions were tested out. The
buildings were all state of the art in their time, they were
once the most advanced centres of scientific development
in the world. But of course, visiting it today it all looked and
felt very dilapidated and out-of-date.
MH: But did you still get a sense of the idealism?
JW: Yes -from the people- when we were walking
around, taking photographs, our guide would say things
like: why are you looking at the cobwebs, we dont want
you to look at the cobwebs. Why are you not seeing the
progress? Of course, the dust and the traces of past
activity are just as much part of the reality of the place, like
skeletons, and we wanted to film those aspects as well.
LW: They still have this immense sense of pride - if you
were working at Star City you were effectively part of an
elite. Our guide was an ex-KGB person who was still
thinking in that way, so although the interiors were very
run-down, he would say oh its under renovation which
clearly wasnt the case.
MH: If these images represent an idea of the future from
the recent past, they are a poignant counter to the other
photographs you are showing here, images that were
tw wthj d wMary Horlock
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M
H: Para esta exposicin, habis reunido dos series
completamente distintas de trabajo fotogrfico,
creadas a partir de localizaciones y contextosmuy diferentes. Tal vez deberamos empezar hablando de
donde se tomaron esas fotografas.
LW: La primera serie se fotografi en Star City, justo a la
salida de Mosc, que visitamos por primera vez en 1999.
Star City era una comunidad dedicada a los viajes espaciales
en la que desarrollaron un programa de entrenamiento
de cosmonautas bajo el antiguo rgimen sovitico.
Sigue funcionando como centro de entrenamiento para
cosmonautas, slo que ahora, por supuesto, como estn
colaborando con los estadounidenses en la exploracin
espacial, incluye astronautas estadounidenses.
JW: Es muy interesante que en la poca sovitica se
mantuviera en secreto y fuera totalmente autosuficiente.
Tambin hicimos fotografas en el Cosmdromo de
Baikonur en Kazajstn, que tambin era absolutamente
inaccesible. Ambos lugares eran muy importantes para
el rgimen, se exhiban como flamantes ejemplos del
espacio, del progreso, del futuro.
MH: Entonces, ambos escenarios estaban ligados a una
ideologa, representaban el deseo de poder y supremaca,
y formaban parte de todo el aparato propagandstico
sovitico. Pero el mito tambin est presente en el sentido
de que eran emplazamientos remotos y escondidos, sin
contacto alguno con la vida cotidiana. Querais desvelar
las debilidades del mito o derribarlo?
JW: Al principio, sentamos una gran curiosidad por
[Star City] porque se la describa como arquitectura para
el futuro, un campo de entrenamiento para la gente del
futuro. Exista una cierta visin utpica, pero en el fondo
tambin se trataba de un programa de entrenamiento
altamente especializado e increblemente centrado en
su funcin, con todos esos diferentes edificios dentro
de los que se experimentaba con diversos entornos
y condiciones. Todos los edificios tenan un diseo
ultravanguardista para su poca, en su momento fueron
los centros de progreso cientfico ms avanzados del
mundo. Pero, por supuesto, al visitarlos hoy en da, la
sensacin que transmiten es de decadencia, resultan
anticuados.
MH: Pero, todava se percibe la sensacin de
idealismo?
JW: S, a travs de la gente. Cuando estbamos
deambulando por ah, tomando fotografas, nuestro gua
nos deca cosas como: Por qu miris las telas de
araa? No queremos que os fijis en las telas de araa.
Por qu no os fijis en el progreso? Por supuesto, el
polvo y las huellas de las actividades del pasado tambin
forman parte de la realidad del lugar, como los secretos, y
tambin queramos filmar esos aspectos.
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taken in a recently re-fitted microchip manufacturing plant
a very high-tech space that offers a more contemporary
view of technology and the future. Were you trying to findthe sharpest contrast?
LW: The factory we looked at was originally owned by
Siemens, it was a very important manufacturing plant in
the North-East, but closed after the Asian economic crisis
in the early 1990s. It was at this point that Atmel - an
American corporation - took over and diversified it. People
were of course relieved to still have jobs. There is no elitism
or sense of privilege, it is functioning and functional andthat is enough.
MH: So do you look between these different bodies of
work and see it as a study of how ideals have been lost
or overtaken? Star City and the Cosmodrome come out of
an idealism which is no longer possible, whereas the Atmel
images are about globalisation, market forces.
LW: and survival. We realized how, when the Soviet
space programme was at its height, religion was repressed
and there was this gap for ideology and the space
programme filled it they had this joke, Lenin was God
and Yuri Gagarin was Christ of course it was a joke but
it was a deeply imbedded national belief.
JW: But as a utopian ideal of the future it is so removed,
specific and elitist. I mean yes, we should travel in space,
but that is a privileged experiment, and it now seems so
archaic. Atmel is an everyday, maybe quite banal, reality.
But it provides the technology that we use daily, and so
it is closer to us and much more tangible than the Spaceprogramme.
MH: I suppose we could still make the connection to
travel though, now we have virtual travel enabled by a
microchip.
LW: But in Russia, you might have been able to go into
space but you were not really free. I mean you could not
travel from East to West Berlin, and this is something we
felt conscious of right from when we made Stasi City in
1999.
MH: Lets talk about this human dimension because
although you might not include people in your still images
you have always picked up on human traces, so we get
a sense of the people who might have inhabited each
space, like with the photograph Skarfaundry(2000) where
we see lifeless spacesuits lying in what could be bunk
beds, but they are just storage cases.
LW: But I think it can be more subtle than that, if
you look at the image of the changing room from the
hydrolaboratorium, where there is a small tree in the corner
and a curtain, you see how people have tried to humanize
their environment even in this huge high-tech facility. There
was a real importance placed on bringing in elements of
nature, you know, potted plants and things like that, as if
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LW: Siguen teniendo una inmensa sensacin de orgullo,
y es que si trabajabas en Star City, efectivamente formabas
parte de una lite. Nuestro gua era un antiguo miembrode la KGB que segua pensando de la misma manera, as
que, aunque los interiores estuvieran vinindose abajo, l
deca oh, es que lo estamos renovando, pero estaba
claro que no era verdad.
MH: Estas imgenes representan una idea del futuro
de nuestro reciente pasado, pero tambin son una
poderosa contraposicin a las otras fotografas que estis
exponiendo, imgenes que se tomaron en una planta defabricacin de microchips recientemente reformada, un
espacio de alta tecnologa que ofrece una visin ms
contempornea de la tecnologa y del futuro. Estabais
tratando de buscar el contraste ms acentuado?
LW: La fbrica que visitamos perteneca originalmente a
Siemens, era una planta de fabricacin muy importante
en el Noreste, pero cerr despus de la crisis econmica
asitica de principios de los aos 90. Fue en ese momentocuando Atmel una corporacin estadounidense se hizo
con el poder de la empresa y la diversific. Por supuesto,
los trabajadores se sintieron aliviados al conservar su
trabajo. All no hay elitismo o sensacin de privilegio, est
funcionando y es funcional y eso es suficiente.
MH: Entonces, al mirar estas diferentes series de trabajo,
las veis como un estudio de cmo los ideales se han ido
perdiendo o quedando atrs? Star City y el Cosmdromo
surgieron de un idealismo que ya no es posible, mientras
que las imgenes de Atmel representan la globalizacin,las fuerzas del mercado
LW: y la supervivencia. Nos dimos cuenta de que,
cuando el programa espacial sovitico estaba en pleno
auge, la religin era reprimida y exista un vaco ideolgico
que el programa espacial vino a cubrir tenan un chiste,
Lenin era Dios y Yuri Gagarin era Cristo desde luego,
era un chiste, pero reflejaba una creencia nacional muy
enraizada.
JW: Sin embargo, como ideal utpico del futuro, es
tan remoto, especfico y elitista. Quiero decir que, claro,
tenemos que hacer viajes espaciales, pero se trata de
un experimento privilegiado, y ahora parece tan arcaico.
Atmel es una realidad cotidiana, tal vez completamente
banal. Pero nos proporciona la tecnologa que usamos a
diario y por eso est ms cerca de nosotros y es mucho
ms tangible que el programa espacial.
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to remind you of the earth.
MH: And the Atmel images dont have this - people have
no place - was this something you thought about?
LW: Atmel is about mass automation and as a purpose-
built architectural space it is a phenomenon in its own
terms. The people at Atmel did try to humanise the space,
though. There was this very personal sense of identification
with the fabric of the building.
JW: We were surprised to see the human presence
so far removed from the manufacturing and production.They seem to have done away with the human to achieve
perfection. But it was interesting how they had names
for everything: there was the ballroom which had all
these incredibly bright fluorescent lights, for example and
then youd go down the basement which theyd call the
yellow brick road because the was miles of cabling and
miles of piping, and then they had Fab Units which were
fabrication units.
You also have to think how, on the reverse side, in the
previous work from Baikonour there is a sense that the
humans are being trained to be machines, to become
a piece of equipment. They are trained to be utterly
efficient and functional. Space travel is a romantic idea but
there is this tough, hard-edged reality about it, it is very
mechanical.
MH: I think the Atmel images are a departure in that they
are perhaps more formal, though. I wonder if this comes
from the location itself - this contained, highly ordered
world of mass production. In the past your work hasexplored spaces with more of a sense of history, Atmel
does not have this. Also, whereas before you sought out
strange, secret and unfamiliar locations, Atmel is a more
mundane reality on our/your doorstep. Would you agree?
LW: I think we are drawn to unfamiliar spaces. We
consciously look for these kinds of places and then we
have to get to know them, familiarize ourselves with them.
But all the time we have to keep a certain distance, so thatthey remain slightly foreign or alien.
JW: Years ago we would always photograph the places
near to where we lived: hotel rooms, bed and breakfasts,
our flat, etc. But inevitably a shift occurred, where we
wanted to push ourselves and find new challenges and
so we started to explore more complex and maybe more
troubling spaces. We are drawn to the kind of architecture
that has a distinct conceptual framework around it, thathas some myth or ideology attached to it, that has a
resonance that is sometimes bigger than its reality. And we
want to decipher and communicate what that reality is.
Atmel is a very high-tech environment but technology will
always be advancing, we work with technology and film
so this idea and interest interlinks you follow the great
developments that are being made, Atmel represents this
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MH: No obstante, supongo que an as podemos
establecer la conexin con el viaje, ahora que podemos
realizar viajes virtuales mediante un microchip.
LW: Pero en Rusia, podas ser capaz de ir al espacio,
pero sin ser realmente libre. Quiero decir que no podas
viajar de Berln Este a Berln Oeste y eso es algo de lo que
nos dimos cuenta justo despus de hacer Stasi Cityen
1999.
MH: Hablemos de esa dimensin humana porque,
aunque no siempre incluyis personas en vuestras
fotografas, siempre os habis interesado por los rasgoshumanos, de modo que en vuestras imgenes percibimos
a la gente que podra haber habitado en ese espacio,
como en la fotografa Skarfaundry (2000), donde vemos
unos trajes espaciales sin vida tendidos en lo que podran
ser unas literas, pero que slo son estantes.
LW: Yo creo que puede ser ms sutil an, si observas la
imagen del vestuario del hidrolaboratorio, donde aparece
un arbolito en la esquina y una cortina, se ve cmo laspersonas han intentado humanizar su entorno en esas
inmensas instalaciones de alta tecnologa. Se daba una
gran importancia a incorporar elementos de la naturaleza,
o sea, tiestos y cosas por el estilo, como si quisieran que
les recordaran a la tierra.
MH: Y las imgenes de Atmel no tienen eso las
personas no tienen sitio all, es esa una reflexin que os
planteasteis?
LW: Atmel trata de la automatizacin masiva y como
espacio arquitectnico esencialmente funcional es un
fenmeno en s mismo. Pero el personal de Atmel s queintent humanizar el espacio. Exista un sentimiento muy
personal de identificacin con el tejido del edificio.
JW: Nos sorprendi ver la presencia humana tan
distanciada de la fabricacin y la produccin. Parecen
haber prescindido de lo humano para conseguir la
perfeccin. Pero fue interesante ver que le haban puesto
nombres a todo: estaba la sala de baile, que tena
unas luces fluorescentes increblemente brillantes, porejemplo, y luego bajabas al stano, que ellos llamaban el
camino de baldosas amarillas porque haba kilmetros
y kilmetros de cables y tuberas, y luego estaban las
unidades fab fab es abreviatura de fabuloso, que eran
las unidades de fabricacin...
Tambin tienes que recordar cmo, por otro lado,
en la obra anterior de Baikonur hay una sensacin
de que los seres humanos estn siendo entrenadospara ser mquinas, para convertirse en una pieza del
equipo. Estn siendo entrenados para ser absolutamente
eficientes y funcionales. Los viajes espaciales son una
idea romntica, pero les envuelve una realidad difcil, dura,
muy mecnica.
MH: Sin embargo, creo que las imgenes de Atmel
suponen un cambio por el hecho de que quiz sean
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and it is ironic that it was right on our doorstep, near where
we grew up.
MH: Looking at these two bodies of work, there are of
course a lot of connections, it is about how buildings hold
power, what they signify. Is that why you chose to bring the
work together for this show?
JW: What we have begun to do now is very different from
what we have done in the past: combining sites, pulling
together different spaces, and so seeing how certain
sensibilities are not confined to one space. Even with the
Russian work though - linking Star City with Baikonour
Cosmodrome - no-one has made that link before We
are not just being faithful to the spaces but we are also
seeing the relationshipsIt has been really interesting for
us to bring these seemingly diverse works together. We
can take an overview on it and step back, and then it is
surprising what you discover.
LW: And as often as you see the connections yousee the contrasts: to launch a rocket into space is a
mechanical procedure, it is physical (and quite brutal)..
it is tangibleWhereas at Atmel the processes and
mechanisms are much more abstracted. Jane has talked
about Atmel which seemed to represent something more
real but of course so much of what goes on there is
invisible, and indeed virtual.
MH: Did you want to bring out how Atmel is this abstract
space? we could be anywhere in the world, and we
cannot tell what is being made here, what it is about.
JW: But that is also down to the way we photograph
places. They are not signature shots of the space, that
would be too documentary, we look a lot at periphery
spaces, it makes it more of a three-dimensional encounter.
To capture the essence of a buildings own phenomenon
you often have to look at the inconsequential, the
periphery.
LW: It is also to do with how a photograph is taken,
how it situates the body within the frame. We play around
with the cropping and we might shift the perspective,
and this might make a simple view down a corridor more
disorientating. We are re-framing how you position yourself.
Nothing is digitally manipulated but we might rotate and flip
an image to one side and thus make it more artificial.
MH: And you exploit the existing reflective surfaces so
there is this warping of space, creating a play of images.
For example in Safe Light: Divided Ballroom (2003) whatappear to be split screens are in fact mirror images of the
same chamber of machinery. You want to disorientate the
viewer.
JW: I think there is a slippage and we get very excited
about that. Your natural impulse is to situate yourself
within it, especially as the images are big and hung low
to the ground. You feel you should have a clear physical
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ms formales. Me pregunto si eso se deriva de la propia
localizacin, de ese mundo cerrado, altamente organizado,
de la produccin en masa. En el pasado, vuestra obra haexplorado espacios con un significado ms histrico, que
Atmel no tiene. Tambin, mientras que antes buscabais
localizaciones extraas, secretas, poco familiares, Atmel
es una realidad mucho ms prosaica que est a la vuelta
de la esquina. Estis de acuerdo?
LW: Creo que nos sentimos atradas por los espacios
poco familiares. Buscamos conscientemente ese tipo de
lugares y luego sentimos la necesidad de conocerlos, defamiliarizarnos con ellos. Pero tenemos que mantener en
todo momento una cierta distancia, de modo que sigan
siendo ligeramente ajenos, lejanos.
JW: Hace aos siempre fotografibamos lugares que
estaban cerca de donde vivamos: habitaciones de hotel,
pensiones, nuestro piso, etc. Pero, inevitablemente, se
produjo un cambio, queramos probar nuestras fuerzas y
encontrar nuevos desafos, as que empezamos a explorarespacios ms complejos y tal vez ms inquietantes. Nos
sentimos atradas hacia un tipo de arquitectura envuelta
en un claro marco conceptual, rodeada de algn mito o
ideologa, que tiene una resonancia que a veces es ms
grande que su propia realidad. Y queremos descifrar y
comunicar lo que es esa realidad.
Atmel es un entorno de alta tecnologa, pero la tecnologa
siempre seguir avanzando, nosotras trabajamos con la
tecnologa y el cine, as que esa idea y ese inters estn
interrelacionados vas siguiendo los grandes progresosque se hacen, Atmel representa ese progreso y es irnico
que estuviera justo a la vuelta de la esquina de donde
crecimos.
MH: Si observamos esos dos cuerpos de obra, hay
desde luego numerosas conexiones, trata de cmo los
edificios encierran poder, de lo que significan. Por eso
elegisteis reunir estas obras para la exposicin?
JW: Lo que hemos empezado a hacer ahora es muy
diferente de lo que habamos hecho en el pasado:
combinar escenarios, reunir espacios diferentes y as
ver cmo ciertas sensibilidades no se limitan a un solo
espacio. Incluso en la obra de Rusia unir Star City con
el Cosmdromo de Baikonur nadie ha establecido antes
ese vnculo No estamos simplemente siendo fieles a los
espacios, sino que tambin estudiamos las relacionesHa sido muy interesante para nosotras reunir estas
obras, en apariencia tan diferentes. Podemos tener una
visin general y luego dar un paso atrs y entonces es
sorprendente lo que descubres.
LW: Y se ven tantas conexiones como se ven contrastes:
lanzar un cohete al espacio es un procedimiento mecnico,
es fsico (y bastante brutal)... es tangible mientras que
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relationship to them but you cant.
MH: Although they are not represented in this exhibition,
you make multi screen film installations of the sites you
have explored, such as Star CityandProton, Unity, Energy,
BlizzardAnd I presume that the photographs you have
taken at Atmel will relate to your forthcoming installation at
the Baltic. How do the still images relate to the film? Are
they props? Are they the images with which you construct
the films narrative, like building a story board?
LW: I think it is something apart - when you engage with
the space through a view finder, looking at every angle
and composing a still image. It is about the simple act
of looking. This is a very different encounter from filming
where there is always the question of movement and
duration. I think the stills are an important element as they
are often cues for the filmed sequences. Nearly all of the
photographs are made prior to the filming.
MH: So are the photographs as important as the film?
LW: Well they are usually the sites that we go back to
time and again, the ones we cannot leave alone.
MH: Like picking at a scab
LW: precisely!
MH: So you go back to these all places several times,
lets talk about how you build your own relationship with
each space
LW: We go back, engage, see how things change.
there is kind of an emotional investment. Also, I know
this sounds strange and I dont want to overstate it, but
you could say it is a bit like method-acting within an
architectural space. I think we do adopt roles.
MH: Do you think this approach might be informed by
gender?
JW: Well, we certainly do not set out to colonise the
space, and we arent going for the main event withthese photos, we identify specific moments or incidents,
but consciously avoid the obvious. Looking at those in-
between spaces. I always get really interested and excited
at those moments when I am in a space and the reason
why I was there is suddenly unimportant, or rather it has
been eclipsed or overtaken by something else.
LW: It is that moment of collapse.
JW: Yes, and it can be a moment of clarity
MH: So when you go in to these spaces, how many
photographs do you take and how many of these
photographs will then become works? In other words, how
often does the image in your minds eye translate into a
material reality?
LW: There are so few images that become works, in the
end we only have say 6 or 8 images
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en Atmel los procesos y los mecanismos son mucho
ms abstractos. Jane ha hablado de Atmel, que pareca
representar algo ms real pero, por supuesto, mucho delo que sucede all es invisible, y desde luego, virtual.
MH: Querais mostrar a Atmel como espacio abstracto?
podramos estar en cualquier parte del mundo, y no
podemos decir qu se est fabricando all, qu tipo de
sitio es.
JW: Pero eso se debe tambin a la manera en la
que fotografiamos los espacios. No son fotografasemblemticas, eso sera excesivamente documental, nos
fijamos mucho en los espacios perifricos, lo que convierte
la obra en un encuentro mucho ms tridimensional. Para
captar la esencia del propio fenmeno de un edificio,
tienes que observar lo intrascendente, la periferia.
LW: Tambin tiene que ver con cmo se hace la
fotografa, cmo se sita el cuerpo dentro de la fotografa.
Nos gusta jugar con el encuadre y podemos cambiar la
perspectiva y con eso una simple imagen de un pasillo
puede resultar ms desorientadora. Estamos replanteando
el modo en que uno se sita. Nada est manipulado
digitalmente, pero podemos girar y mover la imagen hacia
un lado y hacerla as ms artificial.
MH: Y aprovechis las superficies reflectantes para
crear una especie de desfase en el espacio, un juego de
imgenes. Por ejemplo, en Safe Light: Divided Ballroom
(2003), lo que parecen ser pantallas divididas, son en
realidad imgenes especulares de la misma sala de
mquinas. Queris desorientar al espectador.
JW: Creo que hay una especie de discontinuidad y
eso nos encanta. Tu impulso natural es situarte ah,
especialmente porque las imgenes son grandes y estn
colgadas a muy poca distancia del suelo. Te parece que
deberas tener una relacin fsica clara con ellas, pero no
puedes.
MH:Aunque no aparecen en esta exposicin, hacis
instalaciones con pantallas mltiples de esas escenas que
habis explorado, como Star CityyProton, Unity, Energy,
BlizzardY supongo que las fotografas que habis tomado
en Atmel tendrn relacin con la prxima instalacin que
expongis en el Baltic. Cmo se relacionan las imgenes
fijas con las pelculas? Sirven como atrezzo? Son las
imgenes a partir de las que construs la narrativa de la
pelcula, como componiendo un story board?
LW: Creo que se trata de dos cosas diferentes: cuando
te implicas con el espacio a travs de un visor, mirando
desde todos los ngulos y componiendo una imagen
fija, se trata del simple acto de mirar. Es un encuentro
visual muy diferente de la filmacin donde siempre existe
la cuestin del movimiento y la duracin. Creo que las
fotografas son un elemento importante porque, a menudo,
sirven para dar la entrada a las secuencias filmadas. Casi
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JW: and we might use 20 to 24 rolls of film. We go
out, react to the space, but then we have to step back
and gather information and then revisit, and work outstructures, templates.
MH: The documentary aesthetic now seems so popular
in contemporary art and more artists are turning to film and
video. What keeps your practice so distinct and different
from this?
LW: I think our work, although informed by documentary,
is different. The architectural and sculptural concerns that
determine how we edit film, use sound and finally install
each work takes it away from such a recognizable format.
JW: I feel documentary can be revealing and descriptive
but it is notan artistic endeavour in the same terms. For
me, there has to be a surprise or transformation, you know,
this idea of the punctum - when you look at something
and you realise that you are looking at it in a completely
different way, in a new way. These are the moments that
sustain me.presences
Mary HorlockCurator of contemporary art at Tate Britain,
London
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todas las fotografas se han tomado antes de hacer la
pelcula.
MH: Entonces, las fotografas son tan importantes como
la pelcula?
LW: Bueno, suelen ser los escenarios a los que volvemos
una y otra vez, esos escenarios de los que no podemos
olvidarnos.
MH: Como andarse en una postilla
LW: Exacto!
MH: As que volvis a esos lugares varias veces...
hablemos entonces de vuestra relacin con cada
espacio
LW: Volvemos all, nos implicamos, vemos cmo las
cosas cambian hay una especie de inversin emocional.
Adems, s que suena extrao y no quiero darle una
importancia excesiva, pero se podra decir que es unpoco como si furamos actrices del mtodo dentro
de un espacio arquitectnico. Creo que adoptamos
papeles.
MH: Creis que ese enfoque puede estar marcado por
el gnero?
JW: Bueno, desde luego no pretendemos conquistar el
espacio y no buscamos el acontecimiento principal con
estas fotografas, identificamos momentos o incidentes
especficos, pero evitamos lo obvio de forma consciente.Dirigiendo la mirada hacia esos espacios intermedios.
Siempre me han interesado y me siento emocionada
en esos momentos en los que estoy en un espacio y,
de pronto, la razn por la que estoy all no tiene ninguna
importancia o ms bien ha sido eclipsada o sustituida