Overview

In Out of this World, artist Heather Phillipson plots a sequence of sonic and atmospheric conditions that conjure airspace, aerospace and outer space. Responding to the ghostly communications of radar, sonar and unidentified aerial phenomena, Phillipson created an environment filled with automated noises and de-materialised images that float and pulsate, creating what Phillipson refers to as ‘a visual and acoustic fog’. This fog is, like some aspects of warfare, hallucinatory – generating apparitions, premonitions and phantasmagoria. Through the use of sound as a force that influences us both physically and emotionally, Out of this World maps a vibratory field that acts almost meteorologically.

Alongside this new commission, Phillipson selected works to display from the IWM collection and Cyfarthfa Castle Gallery and Museum.

Audiences
12 July 2024 – 26 Jan 2025
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
Project Partners

Glynn Vivian Art Gallery

Communities and Places

A display from the Glynn Vivian collection accompanied the exhibition. This explored the Welsh experience of the First and Second World Wars. Paintings by Swansea-born Will Evans and oral histories from the IWM collection were included.  

Works by Welsh artist Margaret Meghan Watts Hughes were selected for display by Phillipson. In 1885, Watts Hughes invented the Eidophone, a device that captured her voice by imprinting it on glass. Known as Impression Figures, the selection on display are held in the collection of Cyfathfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery. This exhibition provided the opportunity for them to be conserved and displayed for the first time.  

Throughout the duration of the exhibition, communities were welcomed into the space to interact with the artwork in creative ways. Families engaged in a variety of art and craft workshops and activities, in which children could create their own holograms, UFO paintings, model parachutes and mobiles.  

Watch Film

© JHM Media

Watch a short film about Out of this World and audience responses to this work.

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