Bill Viola, Nova Iorque / E.U.A. - arte conceptual contemporânea

III. Passage into night (2005),

video sound installation

II. Passage into Night (2005)

I. Passage into Night (2005)

Ocean without a shore (2007), video sound installation,

em exposição na Feira de Arte da Bienal de Veneza

IV. The Crossing (1996), video sound installation

III. The Crossing (1996)

II. The Crossing (1996)

I. The Crossing (1996)

Five Angels for the Millenium, I. Departing Angel (2001),

video sound installation

II. Birth Angel (2001)

III. Fire Angel (2001)

IV. Ascending Angel (2001)

V. Creation Angel (2001)

Going forth by Day, V. The First Light (2002), video sound installation

IV. The Voyage (2002)

III. The Deluge (2002)

II. The Path (2002)

I. Fire-birth (2002)

IV. The Messenger (1996), video sound installation

III. The Messenger (1996)

II. The Messenger (1996)

I. The Messenger (1996)

The Shape of Life in the Space after Death,

Isolde's Ascension (2005), video sound installation

The Shape of Life in the Space after Death,

Tristan's Ascension (2005)

Night Journey (2005), video sound installation

Night Journey (2005)

Emergence (2002), video sound installation

Becoming Light (2005), video sound installation

The Fall into Paradise (2005), video sound installation

The Surrender (2001), video sound installation

II Vapore (1975), video sound installation,

(em exposição no Museu Berardo, Lisboa)

Study for the Raft, Tempest (2005), video sound installation

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Bill Viola (b.1951) is considered a pioneer in the medium of video art and is internationally recognized as one of today’s leading artists. He has beeninstrumental in the establishment of video as a vital form of contemporary art,and in so doing has helped to greatly expand its scope in terms of technology,content, and historical reach. For over 35 years he has created videotapes,architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic musicperformances, flat panel video pieces, and works for television broadcast. Viola’svideo installations—total environments that envelop the viewer in image andsound—employ state-of-the-art technologies and are distinguished by theirprecision and direct simplicity. They are shown in museums and galleriesworldwide and are found in many distinguished collections. His single channelvideotapes have been widely broadcast and presented cinematically, while hiswritings have been extensively published, and translated for internationalreaders. Viola uses video to explore the phenomena of sense perception as anavenue to self-knowledge. His works focus on universal human experiences—birth, death, the unfolding of consciousness—and have roots in both Eastern andWestern art as well as spiritual traditions, including Zen Buddhism, IslamicSufism, and Christian mysticism. Using the inner language of subjective thoughtsand collective memories, his videos communicate to a wide audience, allowingviewers to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way.

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Of the work Bill Viola states: “Ocean Without a Shore is about the presence of the dead in our lives. The three stone altars in San Gallo become transparent surfaces for the manifestation of images of the dead attempting to re-enter our world.” “The video sequence describes the human form as it gradually coalesces from within a dark field and slowly comes into view, moving from obscurity into the light. As the figure approaches, it becomes more solid and tangible until it breaks through an invisible threshold and passes into the physical world. The crossing of the threshold is an intense moment of infinite feeling and acute physical awareness. Poised at that juncture, for a brief instant all beings can touch their true nature, equal parts material and essence. However, once incarnate, these beings must eventually turn away from mortal existence and return to the emptiness from where they came.”
Bill Viola website

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Crítica:

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Night Journey, a second projection piece, explores the relationship between the complementary elements of light and darkness, male and female, action and contemplation, with fire as the unifying force. The work is divided into two parts. First a man is seen approaching through the darkness, drawn by the light of a fire through which he must pass to reach the source of his desire. In the second part, a woman lights a bank of candles one by one, gradually filling the room with light and transforming her form into a silhouette. After a moment of reflection, she turns away from the light and walks into the darkness.

Becoming Light is a flat-screen piece that describes an erotic journey towards ecstasy and union in the form of a drowning. The lover's bodies float slowly together just below the surface of a dark pool, intertwined in a sensual embrace that is only interrupted by their gasps for air. Eventually they begin a long descent into the dark depths where their illuminated forms become joined together as a single point of light.

Emergence began with a passing idea for a piece called 'Woman Supporting Slumping Man'. Later, leafing through a book on the early Renaissance Italian artists Masaccio and Masolino, he came upon a color plate of Masolino's fresco showing the corpse of the dead Christ in his tomb, supported by his mother Mary and John the Evangelist.

Messenger video installation (originally done in 1996) was in St Paul's Cathedral feb 2004. A figure comes up from the depths of water to the surface. when he breaks the surface the sound and view is astonishing before he descends back to the depths. (Messenger 4) this is the moment where the messenger breaks the surface of the water.

The Crossing (1996) is one of the most powerful works on view. Two large screens mounted back to back simultaneously represent the violent annihilation of a man by opposing forces of nature: fire and water. On one screen, flames lick up from his feet until they appear to consume his entire body. On the other, water falls in a deluge from above until the form is obliterated. In the end, the man disappears entirely and only the flickering flames and lingering drops remain on each scarred floor where the figure stood. The cycle then begins anew, highlighting the purifying, transformative capacity of the elements. The Crossing recalls a line from the thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi-whose works have greatly inspired Viola-who wrote: "You have seen the kettle of thought boiling over, now consider the fire."
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

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Les vidéos de Bill Viola ont en général cette capacité magique à vous laisser sans voix, le souffle coupé, les yeux écarquillés, avec un sentiment d’hébétude et d’émerveillement au tréfonds de vos tripes. Comme toujours, chez Viola, la dimension religieuse, mystique n’est pas loin, sans référence à une quelconque église.

Fall into Paradise commence avec une minuscule lumière au fond d’une immensité aquatique. Peu à peu, cette lumière grandit et devient un couple enlacé se rapprochant de nous, et qui soudain crève la surface de l’eau violemment, puis flotte paisiblement. Becoming light est un ballet érotique sous-marin qui finit en noyade. Lovers’ Path montre les deux amants aux corps indistincts émerger de la forêt sombre, accéder petit à petit à la lumière, à la matérialité, et s’enfoncer main dans la main dans la mer, vers la noyade.

Passage into Night, une femme vêtue de longues robes et coiffée d’un voile, marche sur une terre surchauffée; dans un mirage, ses formes ondulent dans l’air déformé par la chaleur. Pendant 50 minutes, elle se rapproche, devient petit à petit reconnaissable, puis son corps occupe tout l’écran, sa robe noire obscurcit tout, on ne voit plus rien.

L’Ascension de Tristan et celle d’Yseult, la première est l’ascension d’un corps mort, étendu sur une pierre tombale et qu’une cascade d’eau ascendante projette vers le ciel: l’anti-gravité fait jaillir l’eau de plus en plus fort, le corps peu à peu se soulève, s’arrache à la pierre, se cambre et s’envole : ascension-résurrection. Le corps d’Yseult, lui, évolue sous l’eau, laissant derrière lui une traînée de bulles d’air, disparaissant dans les abysses.Des vidéos mystérieuses, envoûtantes, sur la vie et la mort, sur la passion et l’esprit. Pas de narration autre que celle de Wagner, c’est un travail presque abstrait sur la perte de l’autre. On y reste des heures, croyez-moi.
Blogue Amateur d'Arts, Le Monde