Mark Wallinger

 

I am standing in front of a projected video work, Threshold to the Kingdom, which traces the emergence of international arrivals at London City Airport. The action is slowed to 18% of real time. (Part of the conceit of the work is the conflation of the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Heaven). Although not made specifically for the Pavilion, my intention was to acknowledge the peculiarity of the national pavilion - that it is not a neutral, inert box for showing discreet artworks. Four works were made especially for the Biennale, four re-contextualized within the show. The work is similar to some previous video works in that it is a simple, symmetrical locked-off shot. The editing is minimal and untricksy, featuring a song or spoken soundtrack concerned with faith and illusion. Much of my output in recent years has been in video, but the top-lit spaces of the British Pavilion suggested he symmetrical nature of the exhibition with the sculpture, Ecce Homo, as the centerpoint. Threshold to the Kingdom, was one of the two video projections flaking this work.