Bill Viola
16:00 - 17:29
Born in New York in 1951, Bill Viola has worked as a video artist since the early 1970s. In his work he refrains from special effects and digital edits, but makes conscious use of slow-motion, stop-motion photography and optical peculiarities of nature. In his videos he investigates phenomena such as time and light and questions perception. Bill Viola’s video work was introduced by Jeremy Welsh. This video critic from England is an expert on the work of Bill Viola and also makes videos himself. At the festival, a collection of older work and Bill Viola’s most recent video was shown.
14:30: The Reflected Pool
16:00: I Don’t Know What It Is I’m Like
The Reflected Pool; Collected Work (US 1977-1980, 62 min)
This work represents the different stages of the personal journey from birth to death to rebirth. This is done on the basis of various transition phases such as from day to night, from movement to stillness and from time to timelessness. The work consists of five titles:
-THE REFLECTING POOL;
-MOONBLOOD;
-SILENT LIFE;
-ANCIENT OF DAYS;
-VEGETABLE MEMORY.
Prior to the screening of “The Reflecting Pool”, Jeremy Welsh will deliver his talk about Bill Viola, his video work and his position in today’s video culture.
I Don’t Know What It Is I’m Like (US 1989, 89 min)
This video can be considered as Bill Viola’s magnum opus and with its 89 minutes it is a feature film length. “I Don’t Know What It Is I’m Like” is a personal exploration of the inner self and the connections to the animal consciousness that we all carry within us. The work consists of five parts and its structure reflects and evokes in the viewer the feeling of being investigated. The work functions as a map rather than a description of the animal spirit. Images of animals act as an intermediary in the progression from an initial phase of non-differentiation, through the various stages in the development of the rational and later physical orders, to eventually arrive at a transcendent consciousness ahead of logic and natural laws.