Bill Viola: The Eye of the Heart
Each week as part of my final year I have to attend documentaries on famous artists, videographers, and photographers to understand and grasp their influential ideas and contexts and how they apply in the art world. Last week (two weeks ago) was the first in the six week series I watched Bill Viola: The eye of the heart a documentary that looks at the work and life of Bill Viola.
Before I had watched the film I was unaware of Viola and had only researched him shortly beforehand. At a glance I knew he was recognisable as one of todays leading video artists, and had changed the face of contemporary art in video by raising the bar using technology, content, and historical reach. What really stood out to me in his website was how he had incorporated and created not on video installations, but videotapes, sound environments, electronic music performances, flat panel video pieces, as well as working for television broadcast.
In his work “Viola uses video to explore the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self-knowledge…His work focus on universal human experiences – birth, death, the unfolding, of consciousness…allowing viewers to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way.”
As ‘The Eye of the Heart’ was a sort of video bibliography, it helped fill in the gaps of Viola’a work which I discovered on his website. During the documentary I took notes which may appear disjointed here in the blog. However the points I bring up, I feel are relevant when understanding his work.
Bill Viola first started filming in the 1970’s when video art first started to take place. This I feel is really interesting as Voila was at the forefront of a new experimental medium, which makes things clear on how he has become so established as a video artist. One of the first works that really stood out to me early in the documentary was “Memoria” (2000) a film that explores the visual sensations of what he refers to as “eye grain” for me this is the sensation of staring at something and then closing my eyes and seeing the after images and then my brain trying to process this into recognisable images. He describes the sensation when being young and staring at the ceiling in his room watching imagery appear and disappear. In “Memoria” he represents this by using degraded CCTV film footage of a mans face appearing and disappearing whilst showing a series of emotions while eventually dissolving into white noise.
A still from Memoria (2000)
Another part of the documentary that caught my attention was when Viola reflected on the time when he was a kid and almost drowned when swimming with his brother and father. Viola spoke of the sensation of being underwater and found it magical and inspiring to an extent that he didn’t want to resurface. He commented that it was the “Most peaceful place I have ever been” until his father rescued him. At the time I felt this was a pinnacle part of the documentary as it gave an explanation to where he uses water as a motif in his work. Which can seen in “Acceptance” (2008), “Emergence” (2002), and “The Crossing” (2009).
Halfway through the documentary showcased the midpoint in Viola’s career when he filmed “The Passing” (1991). A film essentially about life and death from the filming of a newborn entering to the world to the passing of Viola’s mother. Amongst critics “The Passing” is held as Viola’s best and most important video art work as it explores the ideas and themes of consciousness, subconsciousness, dream and reality. Viola felt whilst filming “The Passing” that the camera was the open eye that could explore the world in its purest form. However he later added that the camera also happens to create tension through the invasion of privacy which you can relate to and understand in “The Passing,” through the unblinking lens of the mother giving birth to her child, and the prolonged sequences of Viola’s deceased mother.
One of the scenes in The Passing (1991) – Reminiscent of his childhood memory.
What I really took from Bill Viola’s documentary was the way in which he worked. He explained how ideas came to him such as the man of fire which you can see in “The Crossing.” Viola said that if an idea keeps cropping up in journals, he will eventually shoot the idea and if proved successful will develop into a project. Viola also explained how he goes off for a couple of days, where he will jot down, take note, and list idea after idea until he has a list of 50. Once back from his sabbatical he will then go and shoot only half of them.
What I though was also interesting is Viola’s main inspiration is religious art which features heavily in his work. An example of this can be seen in “Emergence” where he re-enacted Biblical scenes. During the filming of “Emergence” Viola explained how you have to be aware of the slightest details in video / production at all times as the smallest mistake could come back to “kick you in ass.” Where taking note of Viola’s advise the documentary came to a pinnacle point when he suddenly moved away from single hand held documentaries such as “The Passing” to big production film sets, where Viola hired actors, actresses, make up artists, lighting assistance, and other production workers.
Whilst exploring religion and all of its iconographies Viola also explored the techniques used in painting and incorporating then onto the big screen. I found this rather interesting as it showed the lengths Viola went through with exploring ideas and experimenting to see whether they worked. In one such short film Viola played with the idea of being in two places at once which can be seen in a lot of the art work that original inspired him. Used as a way to suggest dream sequences viola played around with set, and location with sides of buildings missing so the viewer could see both into the building and the outside a the same time. Other elaborate set pieces was in “Catherine’s Room” (2001) were the camera pan right revealing five different rooms set in a familiar fashion yet changing due to the quality of light shown through the spectrum of the day.
Other highlights of Viola’s more recent work was ‘Observance” (2002) in which he filmed streams of hired actors entering and disappearing from the frame as they witness what can only be describes as a “horrific event.” The viewer is never once told what the crowd is witnessing yet the expressions range from grief to sorrow as the crowd forever move forward to fill the frame, witness, shock, and comfort each other. What I liked about this “Observance” in a similar style to “Memoria” as they both work on the viewers interpretation. Of what they are seeing and the meaning behind the film. This from of interaction harps back to the quote I found on Viola’s website” “allowing viewers to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way.” This really appeals to me as I like viewing art whether video, photography, and painting and offering my own meaning to the creation and reasoning behind the work. What I like about “Observance” is the unknown, what exactly is the crowd looking at?
Three select frames from Observance (2002)
The documentary finishes with Viola explaining how he will be forever exploring with sound and light in its many forms. I found this rather poetic as if you strip back his work to their bare basics you are left with the two fundamental basics of sound and light. I found this really inspiring as I’m still yet to explore, experiment, and shoot video. It has always to some degree a passion of mine, yet sadly something I haven’t had the chance to do yet. Although some of Viola’s work was to my taking his methods of working has inspired me to think about how I approach my own projects, especially the planning and the organisation of ideas which I previously had failed to integrate into my work ethic. Maybe I should take a leaf from Viola’s book and think about organising my ideas for the better especially when my FMP is only just round the corner. All in all an enjoyable watch and something I recommend to all video makers whether interested in art or the creative medium.
Stuart Matthews Photography 