Bill viola

Bill Viola, Tristan's Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall), Performer John Hay, 2005. Courtesy of Bill Viola Studio in Aesthetica Issue 78.

“Originally commissioned for the 2007 Venice Biennale,Ocean Without a Shore was first shown in the 15th century Church of the Oratorio San Gallo, a short distance from the Piazza San Marco. I…

Martyrs, a new work by the American video artist Bill Viola, is difficult to take as seriously as it takes itself. It is being shown as a permanent exhibit in St Paul's Cathedral in London, just a few feet from the high altar, and is designed as a kind of altarpiece. Four plasma screens are arranged in a row on a sleek metal stand by the architect Norman Foster. Each screen shows a silent video, a little over seven minutes long, of a person undergoing a highly aestheticized ordeal involving…

Bill Viola, Inverted Birth // August 29–November 26, 2017

“bill viola”

Bill Viola

Pathbreaking artist Bill Viola, who was instrumental in expanding the genre of video art into the mainstream, died at his home in Long Beach, California, on July 12.

Bill Viola (b. 1951) is internationally recognized as one of today’s leading artists. He has been instrumental 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 40 years he has created…

Suspense is a key ingredient in the work of Bill Viola. All seems normal for the first half of “The Raft” (2004), the opening piece of...