Jane and Louise Wilson	transparency of surveillance
Gamma, Operations Room, 1999	(...) It is this transparency of surveillance imposed under the auspices of protection and care which interests the Wilsons. From the implied complicity of Hypnotic Suggestion 505 (1993) to the beguiling kitsch of Las Vegas Graveyard Time (1999), their work reveals the mechanism of coercion under the absent yet omnipresent 'eye of power'. The obvious distinction between their earlier work and more recent investigations is a shift away from the human figure (usually one or both of the artists) as sole metaphor for the complicit subject to depopulated sites, which resonate with implied social control.
	Empty but for the deliberate insertion of props, these loaded sites of historical significance are stripped of anecdote and consequently each begins to resemble the scene of a crime. When the figures of the artist do appear, it is in costume, acting out the role of a demonstration model, rather than as characters in their own right. The sites are filmed and photographed, and in some cases reconstructed, as if for the establishment of evidence. The gnawing absence in Parliament A Third House, Stasi City, Gamma and Las Vegas Graveyard Time seems to signify some kind of traumatic occurrence. Yet only the bare architectural and technological structures remain. Certainly the works use the filmic devices of the thriller to build suspense. The vocabulary of disorientation is employed - labyrinthine space, reoccurring features, mirroring, undisclosed exits and anonymous subjects - to full effect. Yet, if the conceit of narrative is absent, what are these devices used to signify?
	from Claire Doherty, "Awaiting Oblivion", in "Jane and Louise Wilson", Ellipsis
	Jane and Louise Wilson by Jeremy Millar, Claire Doherty Paperback - 128 pages Ellipsis London    Elegant, haunting and arresting, the film and video works of Jane and Louise Wilson have attracted increasing acclaim and attention, culminating in a nomination for the 1999 Turner Prize. The twins specialize in supremely vivid evocations of a particular spirit-of-place, drawing on cinematic conventions and allusions to conjure a heightened, often uncanny atmosphere. This monograph, which features a specially commissioned essay by Jeremy Millar, covers their career to date, encompassing their various short tapes and films as well as the powerful, hypnotic projection installations that have made their names.
JANE AND LOUISE WILSON interviewed by Clare Bishop ellipsis.com website	New Works by Jane and Louise Wilson at Kunstwerke Berlin February 2nd - April 14th, 2002
postmedia