Lineage for a Phantom Zone

Lineage for a Phantom Zone is the inaugural Rolls-Royce MUSE artwork created for the Dream Commission by moving image artist Sondra Perry.

“Lineage for a Phantom Zone marks an essential milestone in Rolls-Royce’s creative history. The newly commissioned work by artist Sondra Perry sees Muse, the Rolls-Royce Art Programme’s inaugural award, the Dream Commission, come to fruition. Initiated to advance the medium of moving image art, the Dream Commission has consisted of a two-year process during which a jury of leading lights of the art world selected Sondra Perry to create an entirely new work.

Lineage for a Phantom Zone is an immersive audio-visual installation that imagines a dream that the artist Sondra Perry wishes that she could have had. The work explores personal history as the roots of dreams, the erasure of Black history in the American South, and the dream space as a passage for reaching sites of heritage that are inaccessible.  

Upon entering the gallery space, the audience will first smell the scent of oranges, immediately evoking a family myth. Perry’s grandmother has told the artist that when she passes, Perry will know as she will smell oranges, so the scent of this fruit is laden with grief and intimacy. 

To accompany the exhibition this publication was developed by A Vibe Called Tech and designed by Fieldwork Facility to enable visitors to engage with the research and thinking that informs Lineage for a Phantom Zone. The writers and contributors include psychotherapist Bola Shonubi, psychiatrist and sci-fi writer Tade Thompson, video artist and arts writer Kareem Reid, science fiction and fantasy writer N.K. Jemisin and filmmaker and installation artist Isaac Julien CBE.

Producer for the Dream Commission: Chloe Hodge
Publication editorial developed by Vibe Called Tech
Design: Robin Howie at Fieldwork Facility
Photography: Ed Park