Richard Wilson’s ‘Slipstream’ Sculpture at London Heathrow Airport

British sculptor Richard Wilson’s large-scale public work ‘Slipstream’ is set to become the longest permanent sculpture in Europe by August 2013, when it will be unveiled to the public in the central court of refurbished Terminal 2 at London’s Heathrow airport.

The twisted shape of the massive artwork takes its form from the Zivko Edge 540 plane flown by world British pilot Paul Bonhomme. The piece, estimated to be the size of one A380 airbus airplane and to weigh 77 tons will seem to hover 6 to 20 meters above the ground of the airport passage point, suspended from four roof support columns. ‘Slipstream’ will be comprised of 1.1 kilometre of 1.5 meter aluminium roll, equalling 1,650 square meters.