Susan Hiller Wild Talents, 1997
Susan Hiller Wild Talents, 1997
Susan Hiller created innovative and influential film installations in which she explored the subconscious or unconscious mind through automatic writing, dreams, memories and the supernatural. Wild Talents draws inspiration from the life of Stefan Ossowiecki (1877-1944), a famous psychic known as ‘The Polish Wizard’. The work focuses on Ossowiecki’s childhood, a time when his then unfocused powers resulted in unpredictable and spontaneous outbursts. More broadly, the installation explores society’s fear of the
Exhibition specifications
unknown and its obsession with the dangerous energies
• This work is a 2-screen video
and spontaneous ‘wild talents’ of children.
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installation and objects An ACC technician will need to be present for the installation. Constant invigilation and gallery black-out is required. The work can be adapted to suit a small or large space.
The venue is required to provide: • 2 projectors (monitor on chair is supplied) • Bulbs for lights • A more detailed spec is available on request There is no hire fee for this project. As well as installation and deinstallation costs, we ask venues to cover insurance and transport costs.
In Wild Talents, two wall-sized projections, each with a shared soundtrack, juxtapose excerpts from films featuring children with special powers. Between the projections sits a TV monitor showing footage from a documentary concerning children who had visions of the Virgin Mary. The monitor is adorned with a crown of devotional lights - bulbs containing an illuminated filament in the shape of different religious symbols. What emerges is a designated space meditating on the nature of faith and the ideology of belief.
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