Liz Wilson
Liz Wilson’s practice explores the stretch of time between the industrial and post-industrial; In particular the beginning of automation and how this is altering our relationships with technology. Using site visits as a catalyst to research, write and produce works, she explores the human-machine relationship of both ‘conductor’ and ‘orchestra’ and how these performative roles manifest themselves during the process of manufacturing.
Since graduating with a masters in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art she has exhibited and screened works within the UK and internationally within various Art Institutions including Taoxichuan Museum of Art, China; OGA, Rome; Parc de la Villette, Paris; FACT, Liverpool; Hockney Gallery, London.
In 2019 she was awarded the first completely digital art commission for ‘Art in Manufacturing’, the headline-commissioning programme for the National Festival of Making (Supported by Arts Council England and Deco Publique.) This acted as a catalyst for further Arts Council funding to work with Liverpool based manufacturer CNC Robotics for two further years and culminated in a large-scale installation at the National Festival of Making in 2022 titled ‘Within the Wake’.
This was featured in Aesthetica’s ‘Future Now’ anthology in 2023, a pulication which takes temperature of global contemporary art practice. In 2020 she was awarded a seven-month residency at Coachworks, Ashford (co-commissioned by Turner Works & Ashford Borough Council) where she collaborated with Hitachi Rail Ltd to produce a body of work which resulted in a multichannel video installation titled ‘The Orchestrated Unconscious’. In 2018 her work was shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, the Stanley Picker Tutorship, in addition to being selected as ‘One to Watch’ by editor in chief for ‘After Nyne’ magazine.
Other notable awards include the Golsoncott Printmaking Prize (2022) Arts Council Development Funding (2019 & 2021) The Augustus Martin Print Prize (2017) Eaton Fund (2017) YLCE Award (2016) University for the Creative Arts Professional Development Grant.
During Middlesbrough Art Week Liz will exhibit The Optical Mechanical.
The Optical Mechanical is an ensemble of animation, sound and factory transformations, exploring the temporal aspects of production. Using modulated voices and animation to explore the tempo and energy of each apparatus, the work recapitulates and evolves, simulating the syncronised spectacle of automation; The repetition of such, working as a catalyst, drawing parallels to the stretch of time between the industrial and post-industrial. Further exploring the relationship of both human and machine, the roles of both ‘conductor’ and ‘orchestra’ create iterative structures within the installation, parallel to the beating drum of the conveyor. The rhythmical energy of such, beating louder and stronger, pounding with the pulse of time itself.
The Optical Mechanical is the first completely digital art commission for 'Art In Manufacturing' - The headline commissioning programme for the National Festival of Making, supported by Arts Council England, Deco Publique, Super Slow Way and Creative Lancashire.