Hayward Gallery

Hayward Gallery Room 2

Jane and Louise Wilson lead a workshop on forensic tendencies in art and film.

Approximate duration: three hours

Jane and Louise Wilson (b.1967, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
Jane and Louise Wilson describe their way of looking as 'forensic'. Over the past two decades, their film and video installations have probed collective fears and paranoia, and investigated architectural sites that were former centres of power during the Cold War. Their atmospheric photographs also have a filmic quality, conjuring up underlying narratives of violence or crime. Fascinated by the techniques and politics of surveillance, they have infiltrated and surveyed such locations as the disused US Air Force missile base at Greenham Common, the abandoned headquarters of the East German secret police, and Russia's defunct cosmonaut training centre. Their recent work has included a photographic portrait of the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and a two-part film installation inspired by the assassination of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a hotel in Dubai. Entitled Face Scripting: What Did the Building See? , this was commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and first presented at the Sharjah Biennial 10 in 2011.