Rachel Rose's Video Works Explore Liminal States and Mortality
On display at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin until 3 February 2019 is Rachel Rose's video installation 'Wil-o-Wisp.' This ten-minute piece, co-commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, narrates the story of Elspeth Blake, a fictional peasant from Somerset in 1570, who disappears after her daughter sets their house ablaze and later reemerges as a healer accused of witchcraft. Filmed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the work combines historical inquiry with digital effects. The installation includes mesh scrim walls that echo the video's moiré patterns. Rose's artistic exploration of mortality and contemporary fears has developed from her 2013 video 'Sitting Feeding Sleeping,' with notable pieces like 'A Minute Ago' (2014) and 'Lake Valley' (2016), drawing comparisons to Elizabeth Price and 1960s experimental filmmakers.
Key facts
- Rachel Rose's video installation 'Wil-o-Wisp' is exhibited at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin through 3 February 2019.
- 'Wil-o-Wisp' is co-commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.
- The video is set in Somerset in 1570 and follows fictional peasant Elspeth Blake, who faces witchcraft accusations.
- Rose's first video work, 'Sitting Feeding Sleeping' (2013), explores themes of mortality and technology.
- She studied painting at Yale under Robert Reed before transitioning to digital video.
- Her video 'A Minute Ago' (2014) features Philip Johnson's Glass House, referencing Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House.
- 'Lake Valley' (2016) is an animation made from scanned vintage children's book images.
- Rose's installation 'Everything and More' was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2015.
Entities
Artists
- Rachel Rose
- Robert Reed
- Philip Johnson
- Mies van der Rohe
- Nicolas Poussin
- Elizabeth Price
- Laure Prouvost
- Ben Russell
- Stan Brakhage
- Leslie Thornton
- Paul Sharits
- Josh Stanley
- Isaac Jones
- David Wolf
- Aily Nash
- Wendy Vogel
- Karl Marx
Institutions
- Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
- Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Yale
- BOMB
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Hayward Gallery
- NASA
- ArtReview
Locations
- Turin
- Italy
- Somerset
- England
- Plymouth
- Massachusetts
- United States
- New York
- London
- United Kingdom
- Zurich
- Switzerland