Art in Manufacturing

A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Liz Wilson’s practice explores the stretch of time between the industrial and post-industrial for her latest art in manufacturing residency.

In particular the beginning of automation and how this is altering our relationships with technology. Her work encompasses visuals, whether static or moving, as well as incorporating explorations into sound. Liz created the pieces by utilising a 6 axis KUKA robot, part of CNC Robotics M-Series. 

First in residence with manufacturer Spiroflow in 2019, where she created The Optical Mechanical, Wilson went on to undertake her second Art in Manufacturing residency with industry-leading technologists, CNC Robotics. Regular trips to the factory from the artist’s base in Kent allowed her to work within the factory’s making schedule, utilising the robotics to carve, extrude and mould sculptures. Forms of fossils, horses legs and the rudder of a canal boat became artefacts to experience alongside video work and new audio combining factory sounds and the artist’s voice.

Within the Wake was an ensemble of sound, sculpture and video exploring time, technology and motion. Drawing on the proximity of CNC Robotics in relation to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, the installation immersed you in a voyage of re-animated industrial artefacts, transitional objects and ethereal sounds. Shifting the viewer from the present and bringing them closer to the journey itself, the work propelled through the passing landscape of technology.

Recalibrated machines synchronised with mechanised voices and robotic sounds, reverberating conversations between the past and present.