Personal Info
Birth date
1951-01-25 (74 Years)
Gender
Male
Known for
Directing
Place of birth
Queens, New York, USA
Also known as
-Bill Viola
Biography
A pioneer in the medium of video art, Bill Viola's work explores the spiritual and perceptual side of human experience. Since 1970 he has created videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic music performances and pieces for television. Works include Hatsu Yume (First Dream), The Passing, and installations Room for St. John of the Cross, The Messenger and The Quintet of the Astonished, recently shown at the National Gallery, London in "Encounters, New Art from Old". A 25-year survey exhibition of his work organized by The Whitney Museum of American Art recently traveled to 6 institutions in the USA and Europe. MacArthur Fellow.
Filmography
What Is Cinema?
6.4
Overview:
Using the words and ideas of great filmmakers, from archival interviews with Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Bresson to new interviews with Mike Leigh, David Lynch, and Jonas Mekas, Oscar-winning filmmaker Chuck Workman shows what these filmmakers and others do that can't be expressed in words - but only in cinema.Return
6.968
Overview:
Return is a methodical construction of the approach of an individual towards an unseen goal, which assumes metaphorical significance. Viola moves toward the camera/viewer, pausing every few steps to ring a bell, at which point he is momentarily thrust back to his starting place, and then advanced again. Finally reaching his destination, he is taken through all of the previous stages in a single instant and returned to the source of his journey.Bill Viola: The Road to St. Paul's
5.2
Overview:
Gerald Fox’s film documents Bill Viola and his wife and close collaborator Kira Perov’s odyssey to create two permanent video installations for London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, Martyrs and Mary, the first art commissions of their kind to be installed in Britain’s most famous religious space.Martyrs
NYR
Overview:
Created by Bill Viola and Kira Perov and opened in May 2014, Martyrs shows four individuals, across four colour vertical plasma screens, being martyred by the four classical elements. The work has no sound. It lasts for seven minutes. Martyrs was joined in 2016 by a second piece entitled Mary. The installations have been gifted to Tate, and are on long-term loan to St Paul’s Cathedral. Bill Viola's commission for St Paul’s Cathedral follows the great historical tradition of commissions for spiritual centres that has resulted in a priceless heritage of art around the world. The result of this commission sees St Paul’s Cathedral, which has always spearheaded the engagement of great artists, house a resonant work of art for our times. Martyrs (and later Mary), will play an important role in connecting contemporary issues with the timeless themes embodied in the cathedral.I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like
6.7
Overview:
"I Do Not Know What It Is that I Am Like" juxtaposes images of animals, both wild and domestic, and natural environments with human activity as it takes place in an apartment, and during a fire walking ceremony in Fiji. Documentary-style footage is combined with staged events. Despite the piece's lack of a traditional narrative, it bears some relationship to nature works. The segment features material from "Il Corpo Scuro (The dark body)" - animals and natural environments are seen up close and at a distance.Guadalcanal Requiem
7
Overview:
One of Paik’s most overtly political and poignant statements, Guadalcanal Requiem is a performance/documentary collage that confronts history, time, cultural memory and mythology on the site of one of World War II’s most devastating battles.Mary
NYR
Overview:
Moving through its five parts, the work describes a cycle of birth through to death, depicting both an eternal, universal Mary, and an earthly Mary representing human life on Earth.Martyrs: Air
NYR
Overview:
Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) consists of four plasma screens, each showing a single figure who is progressively overwhelmed by the onslaught of a natural force. The experiences of the four individuals are orchestrated together to form a coherent whole. The overriding theme is martyrdom for deep-seated beliefs, with the physical suffering of the body made dramatically evident through the cardinal elementsWagner: Tristan und Isolde
NYR
Overview:
Motivated by the love that bound him to Mathilda Wesendonck, Richard Wagner’s composition of Tristan und Isolde goes far beyond any simple operatic gesture. Peter Sellars’ production pours oil onto this troubled sea of emotions in an almost dematerialised setting bared of all earthly contingencies whilst Bill Viola presents the lovers’ initiatory quest for nirvana in videos detached from the stage, suspended like altarpieces.Going Forth By Day
NYR
Overview:
The film is a five-part projection-based installation, which addresses the complexity of human existence through the themes of individuality, society, death and rebirth. Each video is projected directly onto the wall of the exhibition space, just as paint from a fresco adheres to the surface of a plaster wall.Slowly Turning Narrative
NYR
Overview:
Slowly Turning Narrative includes two projections on a large central rotating screen. One presents images of virtually everything that constitutes life, embracing the broadest sweep from birth to death. The other shows a close-up of Viola’s head incanting “the one who lives,” “the one who acts,” “the one who reads,” and more. As this screen rotates, a mirror on the back comes into view, reflecting the image of the viewer in this video evocation of human existence.The Voyage
NYR
Overview:
The fourth video in the five-part digital-image cycle project "Going Forth By Day" (2002), "The Voyage" features an elderly man who is dying, surrounded by his family, as a boat below filled with his possessions awaits him.Catherine's Room
NYR
Overview:
This video work is one of a group of pieces known as 'The Passions' which explores human emotions, inspired by early European devotional paintings. The five screens show different times of the day – morning, afternoon, sunset, evening and night. Each scene shows the female protagonist at a different task, from yoga exercises in the morning through to lighting candles in the evening and finally going to bed. In each scene, the tree outside the window is shown at different stages of its annual cycle, putting the woman's routine in the larger context of the cycles of nature. The work is based on a predella by the fourteenth century artist Andrea di Bartolo.The Reflecting Pool
5.6
Overview:
Viola's seminal piece, The Reflecting Pool, was made three decades ago on analogue video tape and yet could easily pass for a contemporary digital piece; in it, Viola emerges as central protagonist from a thick forest into a clearing filled by an artificial pool. As the noise of an aeroplane slowly passes and fades overhead, Viola approaches the edge of the pool, whereby he removes his shoes, squats down yelling and then prepares to make a powerful jump.Martyrs: Earth
NYR
Overview:
Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) consists of four plasma screens, each showing a single figure who is progressively overwhelmed by the onslaught of a natural force. The experiences of the four individuals are orchestrated together to form a coherent whole. The overriding theme is martyrdom for deep-seated beliefs, with the physical suffering of the body made dramatically evident through the cardinal elements.Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979
NYR
Overview:
Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979, by incorporating a large body of water, with video and sound recordings of nature, was pioneering in its use of mixed media. It is a meditation on the fragility of nature and our perception of its changes over time. A screen is suspended above a large shallow pool of water. A projector with three separate beams (one each for red, green and blue light) sends an image of Mount Rainier to the surface of the water that then bounces up to reach the rear projection screen. At periodic intervals, the water’s surface is manually disturbed causing the three beams of color to separate, until finally becoming an unrecognizable pattern of form and color. Slowly the water settles, to once more form a coherent image after the surface vibrations subside.Anthem
6.3
Overview:
A series of shots depicting "America" are laid over a classic Gregorian Chant recreated through the distortion of a woman's screams.The Morning After the Night of Power
NYR
Overview:
The title of The Morning After the Night of Power refers to a passage of the Koran in which angels descend from the heavens to impart the divine inspiration to followers. The central image of the tape is a blue vase standing motionless on a table. This object is framed by a dramatic interplay of light, shadow and movement, which is registered by a fixed camera over an extended period of time. Writes Viola, "As the condensed stillness of pure duration becomes activity, events hover at the edge of awareness until a final culminating action of transcendent liberation."Playing Soul Music to My Freckles
7
Overview:
Playing Soul Music to My Freckles is a minimalist performance in which a bare loudspeaker, playing an Aretha Franklin song, is seen on the artist's exposed back.The Raft
NYR
Overview:
A small crowd of people are gathered in wait when they are suddenly struck by a massive onslaught of water.Déserts
6
Overview:
Déserts was created to accompany a live performance of the work of avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse (1885-1965). The Ensemble Modern, a contemporary music group based in Frankfurt, commissioned Viola to create a visual score for Varèse's Déserts after discovering notes by the composer referring to an unrealized image component of his composition. The resulting film/videotape was produced with the European television stations ZDF/Arte. In October 1994 Viola's Déserts premiered in a live performance in Vienna with conductor Peter Eötvös and the Ensemble Modern.Anima
NYR
Overview:
Anima, which means “soul” in Latin and is the root of the word animation, is from a series of works inspired by Renaissance paintings of figures against neutral backgrounds. The panels show three people who have been directed to express a series of emotions in a specific order—joy, sorrow, anger, and fear. Bill Viola shot the original footage of the complete emotional cycle in one minute; by slowing the speed of the video playback to 81 minutes and 30 seconds, he has made it nearly impossible to discern any movement, blurring the distinction between portraits made with still photography and those made with film. Through these portraits of three anonymous individuals, Viola both conveys the idea that time is eternal and addresses the notion of the changing self.Truth Through Mass Individuation
NYR
Overview:
The title of Truth Through Mass Individuation references Carl Jung. An isolated figure is seen performing successively more aggressive actions — dropping a cymbal among a flock of pigeons, firing a rifle in a deserted city street. In the fourth and final stage, his luminous image, spotlit against the dark night, merges in the distance with a roaring crowd in an outdoor stadium.The Quintet of the Astonished
NYR
Overview:
The Quintet of the Astonished shows the unfolding expressions of five actors in such extreme slow motion that every minute detail of their changing facial expressions and movements can be detected. In this piece artist Bill Viola explores the cathartic power within grief, personal suffering, and bereavement.Junkyard Levitation
NYR
Overview:
Junkyard Levitation is a visual pun on the concept of "mind over matter," as a man attempts to levitate while lying prone in a junkyard. Writes Viola, "Scrap metal technology and video technology are united to temporarily break the known laws of science and prove that psychokinesis is valid within a given frame of reference.The Tristan Project
NYR
Overview:
A four-hour plus video production inspired by Richard Wagner's oeuvre "Tristan und Isolde" and projected during the opera premiere in Paris, in partnership with Peter Sellars as artistic collaborator, and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.The Crossing
NYR
Overview:
In this work's left panel, The Crossing (1996), a walking male figure is consumed by fire on a 27-foot vertical plasma screen projection while in the accompanying right panel, The Crossing, Video 2 (1996), the same man struggles under a deluge of water.The Space Between the Teeth
7
Overview:
The Space Between the Teeth is based on the structure of acoustic phenomena and the psychological dynamics of a man screaming at the end of a long dark corridor. With each successive scream, the camera point of view hurtles at high velocity along the length of the hallway in decreasing increments. The corridor and the cinematic structuring of the camera's advance act as metaphors for passage and transition between two worlds, bridged by the individual's cathartic screams. Ultimately, the image of the man at the end of the corridor is transformed into a Polaroid still that is literally washed away.The Sleepers
NYR
Overview:
The Sleepers is a startlingly dark vision of sleeping people suspended under water, unable to make contact with the world outside. Viola describes the work: “Seven 55-gallon metal barrels stand in a darkened room. They are white inside and out and are open at the top. The only light in the room is a soft bluish glow emerging from each barrel and diffused throughout the room. The barrels are filled to the brim with water. At the bottom of each one under the water is a black-and-white video monitor facing straight up, the source of the blue light. Video and power cables for the monitor are visible as they emerge from the floor and enter the water over the top rim of each barrel. On each screen is a close-up of a person’s face while asleep. There is an image of a different person in each barrel, actual recordings of people sleeping presented continuously with little or no editing.Acting
2017Bill Viola: The Road to St. Paul's as Self
2013What Is Cinema? as Self
2003Bill Viola: The Eye of the Heart as Self
2002Going Forth By Day as (segment "The Voyage")
2002The Voyage as Gatekeeper
1986I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like as Himself
1983Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House as Unknown
1979The Reflecting Pool as Performer
1975Return as Unknown
Directing
TBAThe Crossing ... Director
2018Wagner: Tristan und Isolde ... Director
2016Mary ... Director
2014Martyrs: Earth ... Director
2014Martyrs: Water ... Director
2014Martyrs: Fire ... Director
2014Martyrs: Air ... Director
2014Martyrs ... Director
2014Inverted Birth ... Director
2013Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity ... Director
2013The Dreamers ... Director
2012The Encounter ... Director
2012Walking on the Edge ... Director
2012Traveling on Foot ... Director
2011A Phrase from Chris ... Director
2008The Innocents ... Director
2008Three Women ... Director
2007Ocean Without a Shore ... Director
2006Poem B (The Guest House) ... Director
2005Basin of Tears ... Director
2005Ablutions ... Director
2005Fire Woman ... Director
2005Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall) ... Director
2004The Tristan Project ... Director
2004The Raft ... Director
2003Emergence ... Director
2002Going Forth By Day ... Director
2002Fire Birth ... Director
2002The Path ... Director
2002The Voyage ... Director
2001Four Hands ... Director
2001Catherine's Room ... Director
2001Surrender ... Director
2000The Quintet of the Astonished ... Director
2000Anima ... Director
2000Eternal Return ... Director
2000Ascension ... Director
1996The Crossing ... Director
1995The Veiling ... Director
1995Interval ... Director
1995The Greeting ... Director
1994Déserts ... Director
1992The Passing ... Director
1992Slowly Turning Narrative ... Director
1992The Nantes Triptych ... Director
1992Heaven and Earth ... Director
1992The Sleepers ... Director
1990The Stopping Mind ... Director
1989Angel's Gate ... Director
1986Sodium Vapor ... Director
1986I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like ... Director
1986Silent Life ... Director
1984Reverse Television - Portraits of Viewers ... Director
1983Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House ... Director
1983Anthem ... Director
1982Ancient of Days ... Director
1981Hatsu Yume (First Dream) ... Director
1980Vegetable Memory ... Director
1979The Reflecting Pool ... Director
1979Moonblood ... Director
1979Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat) ... Director
1979Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979 ... Director
1977Memories Of Ancestral Power ... Director
1977Sweet Light ... Director
1977Memory Surfaces and Mental Prayers ... Director
1977The Wheel of Becoming ... Director
1977The Morning After the Night of Power ... Director
1977He Weeps for You ... Director
1976Truth Through Mass Individuation ... Director
1976The Space Between the Teeth ... Director
1976Songs of Innocence ... Director
1976Junkyard Levitation ... Director
1976Four Songs ... Director
1976Migration (for Jack Nelson) ... Director
1975Playing Soul Music to My Freckles ... Director
1975A Non-Dairy Creamer ... Director
1975The Semi-Circular Canals ... Director
1975A Million Other Things (2) ... Director
1975Return ... Director
1975Red Tape: Collected Works ... Director
1973Information ... Director
Writing
2016Mary ... Writer
2005Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall) ... Idea
2004The Raft ... Writer
2002Going Forth By Day ... Writer
1994Déserts ... Writer
1989Angel's Gate ... Idea
1983Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House ... Writer
1983Anthem ... Writer
1981Hatsu Yume (First Dream) ... Writer
1979The Reflecting Pool ... Writer
1976Migration (for Jack Nelson) ... Idea
1975Return ... Writer
Crew
2002Going Forth By Day ... Cinematography
1986I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like ... Cinematography
1979Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat) ... Creator
Editing
2002Going Forth By Day ... Editor
1994Déserts ... Editor
1989Angel's Gate ... Editor
1981Hatsu Yume (First Dream) ... Editor
1979The Reflecting Pool ... Editor
1976Migration (for Jack Nelson) ... Editor
Camera
1994Déserts ... Director of Photography
1989Angel's Gate ... Director of Photography
1981Hatsu Yume (First Dream) ... Director of Photography
1979The Reflecting Pool ... Director of Photography
1977Guadalcanal Requiem ... Director of Photography
1976Migration (for Jack Nelson) ... Director of Photography
Production
1986I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like ... Producer
1981Hatsu Yume (First Dream) ... Producer