Viola, Bill

Viola, Bill

▪ American artist
in full  William Viola 
born Jan. 25, 1951, New York, N.Y., U.S.

      American video and sound artist who was one of the pioneering figures of a generation of artists in the 1970s employing video art and sound technologies. Known for his room-sized environments (installations) that envelop viewers with sound and feature many screens of moving images, Viola created sublimely romantic imagery in the tradition of painting but within the radically new video medium.

      From 1969 to 1973 Viola attended Syracuse University in New York (B.F.A., 1973), where he first began to work with video. In the early 1970s he was a video preparator at Syracuse's Everson Museum of Art and in that capacity worked with such figures as Nam June Paik (Paik, Nam June) and Peter Campus. From 1974 to 1976 he was in Florence, working at an independent art video production facility, Art/Tapes/22. The Renaissance art that he was exposed to while living there became a major source of visual material for some of his later video productions. Another significant early influence on his work was the experimental musician David Tudor. Viola went to Japan in 1976, and thereafter he traveled widely. His study of non-Western art and cultures, particularly Eastern cultures, informs much of his aesthetic sensibility, and many of his works reflect on the role of art in prayer, meditation, and healing.

      Viola's video installations commonly involve a figure wrestling with nature: drowning in a pool of water, being engulfed in flames, grieving in slow motion, or giving birth, for example. These vignettes are transformed into romantic spectacles—ruminations on life and death, mind/body dialectics, the nature of perception, and the achieving of transcendence. His work can be found around the world, often in sites outside of the museum context, such as churches and temples. In 1995 he represented the United States at the 46th Venice Biennale. In 1997 the Whitney Museum of American Art presented a large retrospective of Viola's work. Among his better-known videos are Hatsu-Yume (First Dream) (1981), I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like (1986), The Passing (1991), Déserts (1994), and Going Forth By Day (2002). He worked with his wife, executive producer Kira Perov; avant-garde director Peter Sellars; and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen on a new production of Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, which premiered in 2005.

Additional Reading
Marilyn Zeitlin (ed.), Bill Viola: Survey of a Decade (1988), an exhibition catalogue; Bill Viola, Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House: Writings, 1973–1994, ed. by Robert Violette and Bill Viola (1995); David A. Ross and Peter Sellars (ed.), Bill Viola (1997), an exhibition catalogue; Chris Townsend (ed.), The Art of Bill Viola (2004).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Viola, Bill — (n. 25 ene. 1951, Nueva York, N.Y., EE.UU.). Videoartista estadounidense. Se formó en la Universidad de Siracusa, Nueva York. Durante la década de 1970 se desempeñó como asistente en varios proyectos musicales y televisivos y comenzó a trabajar… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Bill Viola — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Bill Viola (Nueva York, 1951) es un artista estadounidense. Contenido 1 Biografía 2 Bibliografia 3 Notas …   Wikipedia Español

  • VIOLA (B.) — VIOLA BILL (1951 ) Les vidéos de Bill Viola présentent la particularité de pouvoir regrouper des systèmes de rationalité et des modes purement intuitifs, des méthodes scientifiques et des pensées orientales, des images à la fois hautement… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Bill — Bill, Max * * * (as used in expressions) Bill of Rights (Declaración de derechos) Bill, Max Blass, Bill Bradley, Bill Brandt, Bill Clinton, Bill Buffalo Bill Cosby, Bill …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • bill — (voz inglesa) ► masculino POLÍTICA Proyecto de ley sometido al parlamento. * * * (as used in expressions) Bill of Rights (Declaración de derechos) Bill, Max Blass, Bill Bradley, Bill Brandt, Bill Clinton, Bill …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Bill Viola — (* 25. Januar 1951 in New York) ist ein amerikanischer Video und Installationskünstler. Viola kann als führender Vertreter der Videokunst angesehen werden. Bill Viola lebt mit seiner Frau Kira Perov und ihren beiden Kindern im kalifornischen Long …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Viola (Begriffsklärung) — Viola ist in der Botanik das Veilchen in der Musik: die Viola da Braccio (insbesondere die Bratsche) die Viola da gamba die Viola d’amore die Viola pomposa die Viola Bastarda die Viola Profonda, ein viersaitiges Streichinstrument in Tenorlage im… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Viola (genre) — Viola Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Viola (homonymie) — Viola Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Bill Mazeroski — Second baseman Born: September 5, 1936 (1936 09 05) (age 75) Wheeling, West Virginia Batted: Right Threw: Right  …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”