These designs were produced by Richard Wilson in 2012 as part of the process of creating his monumental sculpture 'Slipstream' for Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2. Wilson's design was chosen for the commission by the cultural agency Futurecity from a shortlist of five artists in 2010. The finished structure was unveiled at the re-opening of Terminal 2 in 2014, winning the Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture that year. It is one of the longest public artworks in Europe at 70 metres and one of Britain’s most viewed public sculptures seen by an estimated 20 million passengers a year.

Constructed in aluminium panels, Wilson intended the sculpture to capture the motion of a stunt plane twisting as it flies through the terminal. He has described wanting 'to transpose the thrill of the air show to the architectural environment of the international air terminal'. One end of the structure flares out over the departures bridge, designed so that 'people coming in would see that beautiful movement and think about their own journey, as they’re getting their tickets' (cited from Wilson's interview with Plinth, link below)

The process of designing the sculpture included producing hand-made models, drawings and, eventually, digital models as Wilson endeavoured to familiarise himself with the visual effects of form propelled forwards and of different shapes in motion. These two designs from the Royal Academy Collection are printed but with hand-drawn additions by the artist in pen and ink, pencil, paint and tippex to accentuate particular areas. 'Draft 3' and 'Draft 4' clearly demonstrate how the artist's concept of a small aircraft swooping and twisting through a confined space (below) translated into the elongated, undulating form of 'Slipstream' (above). The flow of pencil lines and additions in coloured ink accentuates the direction of movement in the structure.

Wilson described this stage of drawing and model-making as a ‘kind of mental gymnastics or limbering up’; a way of focusing and ‘clarifying his thoughts’ before taking them to Commercial Systems International (CSi) and the engineering firm Price & Myers, who built 'Slipstream' (see 'Richard Wilson, Slipstream, 2014 cited below). A number of Wilson's designs for the project were reproduced as prints and published in the 'Slipstream Portfolio'.

Richard Wilson is internationally celebrated for his sculptural interventions in architectural space, often drawing inspiration from the worlds of engineering and construction. His 2008 work 'Turning the Place Over', for example, set a circular section of a Liverpool building's façade rotating on a spindle while in 2012, his work at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill in Sussex, 'Hang On A Minute Lads, I’ve Got A Great Idea' featured a replica of a vintage Harrington Legionnaire coach that appeared to be teetering on the edge of the gallery’s roof.

Further reading:

J. Wainright (ed.), Richard Wilson 'Slipstream, London 2014 https://research.uca.ac.uk/1865/6/Richard_Wilson_Slipstream.pdf

https://www.richardwilsonsculptor.com/sculpture/slipstream-2014.html

https://plinth.uk.com/blogs/in-the-studio-with/how-richard-wilson-made-slipstream

All objects in this group