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BILL VIOLA

A can’t-miss exhibition dedicated to a genius of video art

WHAT TO WATCH

1/13/20236 min read

From 24 February to 25 June 2023, Palazzo Reale in Milan presents a major exhibition dedicated to the man considered to be an undisputed master of video art: BILL VIOLA.

Bill Viola is a renowned multimedia artist whose captivating video installations have been showcased in galleries and museums worldwide. His works are characterized by their immersive and thought-provoking nature, often addressing themes of spirituality, human emotions, and the human condition. In this post, we'll delve into the world of Bill Viola and explore some of his most notable works, as well as introduce you to a can't-miss exhibition in Milan, Italy.

Bill Viola was born in 1951 in Queens, New York. As you can guess from his name "Viola" he is from an Italo-American family.

He studied at Syracuse University, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1973, and later attended the University of California, Irvine, where he studied experimental video and electronic music.

Through the early study of electronic music, the potentialities of performance art and experimental film, for more than 40 years Viola has made works that, through a new artistic language, consistently address life, death, and the intervening journey, to explore deeper understanding of humanity and its relationship with the environment, the influences of Eastern and Western philosophies, the iconic importance of the natural world, and many other themes.

Viola's video installations are renowned for their technical mastery and emotional impact. One of his most notable works is "The Crossing," a large-scale video projection that depicts a man and woman slowly walking towards each other before colliding in a powerful embrace. The piece explores themes of love, loss, and the afterlife, and has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.

Another powerful work by Viola (and one of my favourites) is Catherine’s Room (2001) A private view into the room of a solitary woman who goes about a series of daily rituals from morning until night. The woman’s actions are simple and purposeful, and appear simultaneously in different times of day—morning, afternoon, sunset, evening and night. A small window in the wall reveals a view of the outside world where the branches of a tree are visible. In each panel the tree is seen in successive stages of its annual cycle, from spring blossoms to bare branches. The world outside the window represents another layer of time, transforming the scene from a record of one day into the larger view of a life bound to the cycles of nature.

BILL VIOLA

The Milan Exhibition - From 24 February to 25 June 2023, Palazzo Reale

The Milan exhibition offers visitors a path on which they find themselves contemplating the profound issues that Bill explores with slow-motion images in which light, colour, and sound can create moments of deep reverence. Emotions, meditation, and passions can emerge from his videos, taking the viewer on an inner journey.

This dimension emerges, for example, in his Passions videos (works that make clear reference to the Italian Renaissance), which in slow motion capture and extend details of human emotions impossible to see in real time, or in Ocean Without a Shore (2007), a work born in Venice in the small, deconsecrated church of San Gallo, which describes a metaphorical threshold of the moment of transition in which life becomes death.

And then there is the video diptych of projections on slabs of black granite – Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity (2013) – and works, belonging to the Tristan series (2005), that depict the visual and auditory intensity of the transfiguration of fire and water, alongside works rarely shown in Italy like The Quintet of the Silent (2000), thus allowing the general public to enjoy a variety of exclusive content.

In the polyptych Four Hands (2001), the hands of a young boy, a middle-aged woman and man, and an elderly woman are seen as they slowly and deliberately form a series of predetermined gestures. The gestures are influenced by a variety of sources from Buddhist mudras to seventeenth-century English chirologia tables. The symbolic patterns of the motions of three generations of hands—son, mother and father, grandmother—describe a timeline that encompasses both the parallel actions of the individuals in the present moment and the larger movements of the stages of human life.

Catherine’s Room, 2001Color video polyptych on five LCD flat panel displays mounted on wall, 38x246x5,7 cm - 18:39 minutes
Performer: Weba Garretson
Photo: Kira Perov © Bill Viola Studio

Viola's video installations often incorporate sound and music, creating a fully immersive sensory experience. One example is "The Veiling," a large-scale projection that depicts a figure shrouded in mist and slowly disappearing into the darkness. The piece is accompanied by a haunting soundtrack that adds to the atmosphere of mystery and transcendence.

The Veiling, 1995 - Video/sound installation
Two channels of color video projections from opposite sides of a large dark gallery through nine large scrims suspended from ceiling; two channels of amplified mono sound, four speakers - Scrim size: 2.4 x 3.3 m each 30:00 min
Performers: Lora Stone, Gary Murphy
Photo: Kira Perov © Bill Viola Studio

Viola's multimedia art videos are often described as spiritual and meditative, exploring deep human emotions and the human condition. His works challenge viewers to confront their own feelings and experiences, inviting them to reflect on the complex and often contradictory nature of the human psyche.

Bill Viola's use of religious symbols in his videos is a significant aspect of his multimedia art. He often draws inspiration from his own spiritual practice, particularly his interest in Eastern mysticism and Christian mysticism. Viola's works explore themes of transcendence, transformation, and the search for meaning in life, and religious symbols are frequently used as a visual language to convey these ideas.

One of Viola's most prominent works that incorporates religious imagery is "The Messenger," a large-scale video installation that depicts a figure moving slowly through water. The figure is covered in white cloth, reminiscent of burial shrouds, and the movements are slow and meditative. The video is accompanied by a haunting soundtrack of Gregorian chants, adding to the sense of spiritual transcendence.

Another example is Fire Woman (2005) is an image seen in the mind’s eye of a dying man. The darkened silhouette of a female figure stands before a wall of flame. After several minutes, she moves forward, opens her arms, and falls into her own reflection. When the flames of passion and fever finally engulf the inner eye, and the realization that desire’s body will never again be met blinds the seer, the reflecting surface is shattered and collapses into its essential form—undulating wave patterns of pure light.

Fire Woman, 2005 -Video/sound installation Color high-definition video projection; four channels of sound with subwoofer (4.1) -Projected size: 5,8x3,25 m - 11:12 minutes
Performer: Robin Bonaccorsi
Photo: Kira Perov © Bill Viola Studio

Viola's use of religious symbols is not limited to Christianity; he often draws from Eastern religious traditions as well. In "The Crossing," the figure depicted is surrounded by a swirling mass of water that resembles a Buddhist mandala. The use of the mandala symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and the interconnectedness of all things.

In the late 80’s, Bill Viola went through a noteworthy period of creative crisis. This is when he began to think of a new approach to composing images through the construction of full-fledged, almost cinematographic scenes inspired by Western artistic tradition. Veritable films resulted, complete with sets, actors, lighting, photography and the role of the director.

Unlike other artists of his generation, Bill Viola had already left behind excessive technological experimentation in the early 70’s, returning to the fundamentals of video technology (the monitor and the camera), and then moving beyond the medium, to a study of the natural elements which bring any image into being, meaning light, time and space.

The best known, seminal work was The Greeting (1995), on display at the exhibition and inspired by Pontormo’s Visitation (1528-9). Two women dressed in 16th-century clothing are talking to each other, when they are interrupted by a third woman who greets and embraces them.

The movements, all of them in slow motion, occur in a setting evocative of Pontormo’s painting, though Viola defines it as “industrial”. The action, which took place in 45 seconds’ time, is stretched out to more than 10 minutes. Kira Perov notes, in her preface to the catalogue: “Time is malleable in the hands of Bill Viola, where every detail of movement and facial and body expression is visible, and a moment becomes an eternity.”

The Greeting, 1995 - Video/sound installation
Color video projection on large vertical screen mounted on wall in darkened space; amplified stereo sound -Projected image size: 2,8x2,4 m - 10:22 min
Performers: Angela Black, Suzanne Peters, Bonnie Snyder
Photo: Kira Perov © Bill Viola Studio

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