239. The crossing. Bill viola. 1996 CE Video/sound installation

• Form and Content
  • Room dimensions: 16*27.5*57 feet
  • Performer: Phil Esposito
  • Photo: Kira Perov
  • These video installations are total environments
  • Two channels of color video project from opposite sides of large dark gallery onto two large, back-to-back screens suspended from the ceiling and secured on the floor.
  • Four channels of amplified stereo sound coem from four speakers
  • There are two freestanding video screens that show a double-sided projection
  • Fire: Flames consume the figure of a man, beginning at his feet
    • A fugure approaches from a long distance. As he stops, a small flame appears at his feet and spreads rapidly to engulf him in a roaring fire. When it subsides, the man is gone
  • Water: a man walks toward the viewer and water falls from above
    • Similar tp o the fire scene, when the figure stops, a stream of water begins to pour upon his head. It quickly turns into a raging torrent, inudating the man. When the water slows, the man is gone
  • The figures wak in extremely slow motion
• Context
  • Bill Viola is a Queens, New York–born artist
  • The artist promotes video as an art form
  • The work shows actions that repeat again and again
  • The artist is interested in sense perceptions
  • There is an implied cyle of purification and destruction
  • Filmed at high speed, but sequences are played back at super slow motion
  • Evokes Eastern and Western spiritual traditions: Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, Christian mysticism
  • Requires the viewer to remain still and concentrate