Richard Wilson RA's 'Slipstream' takes flight

Posted: 08 July 2013 by Amy Macpherson RA Website Editor

Royal Academician Richard Wilson is famous for his large scale, site specific sculptures - from 20:50 (1987), a room of reflective sump oil that plays tricks with space, to last year's 'Hang on a minute, lads... I've got a great idea' which saw him balancing a bus on the roof of Bexhill on Sea's De La Warr Pavilion.

His latest project takes him from defying gravity to freezing a moment - and a movement - in time. 'Slipstream' will be installed in Heathrow's new Terminal 2, which opens next year. The monumental sculpture will trace the trajectory of a stunt plane through the building's central courtyard, embodying its twisting path in gleaming aluminium.

This huge and complex work is coming together with the help of structural engineers Price & Myers and Hull-based fabricators Commercial Systems International. Last week, as the first pieces of the sculpture begin their journey from Hull to Heathrow for the installation process, champion stunt pilot Paul Bonhomme recreated the spiralling motion of the sculpture in an air show at Audley End Airfield in Saffron Walden.

In the video above, Richard Wilson talks about the inspiration behind Slipsteam.