Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Aberdeen Art Gallery’s first benefactor Alexander MacDonald (1831– 84), a local granite merchant and collector of fine art, bought contemporary works from artists whom he knew. His bequest funding which, he specified, should be used to acquire only art created within 25 years of purchase, began a continuing tradition of collecting contemporary art which has allowed Aberdeen Art Gallery to establish an important collection of modern and contemporary art. The collection is very strong in British Modern. For the last ten years the gallery has bought contemporary works including some significant moving image works including those by artists Henry Coombes and Torsten Lauschmann.
In this experimental film work there exists a narrative of sorts that emerges from the artist’s own experience of remembering a scene in a film. Wardill relates this to the apocryphal anecdote relating to the famous French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes and the story of the death of Descartes’ daughter. She uses this myth as a metaphor for her own search. The words are delivered in a mechanical sounding Swedish accent and seem to shatter like a crystal refracting light.
Emily Wardill (b. UK 1977) is a London-based artist filmaker. She has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, including solo projects at de Appel, Amsterdam and The Showroom, London (2009). She recently won the Jarman Award and has been selected for The British Art Show 7.
With thanks to FORTESCUE AVENUE/Jonathan Viner, London.