On the Dramaturgical Aspects of Bill Viola's Multi-media Installations

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Notes

¹ See Fried's famous essay, ‘Art and Objecthood’ (Artforum, June 1967).

² The Path: ‘It is the time of the summer solstice high in the mountains. The early morning light reveals a steady stream of people moving along a path through the forest. They come from all walks of life, each travelling the path in their own unique way.’ The Deluge: ‘A stone building, newly restored, stands in a clear light of the autumnal equinox. People move along the street immersed in the flow of day-to-day events. Small incidents play out, affecting individual lives. Families are leaving their homes, people on the street are carrying personal possessions …’ The Voyage: ‘It is late afternoon at the time of the winter solstice. A small house stands on a hill overlooking the inland sea. Inside, an old man lies ill on a bed, attended by his son and daughter-in-law. Outside, another man sits by the door keeping vigil. Down by the shore, a boat is slowly being loaded with the personal possessions from the dying man's home. An old woman waits patiently nearby.’ The First Light: ‘It is dawn on the morning of the vernal equinox. A team of rescue workers has been labouring all night to save people caught in a massive flash flood in the desert. Exhausted and physically drained, they slowly pack up their equipment. … A woman stands on the shore looking off into the flooded valley where their friends and neighbours once lived.’ (Bill Viola, in Going Forth By Day, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, 2002).

³ In one of Viola's latest productions, Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde staged by Peter Sellars, the real, flowing time of the transforming image, together with the changing energy of the living image, permit the video device to express the unconscious forces driving Tristan's and Isolde's love affair.

⁴ Kira Perov, Bill Viola's wife and collaborator since 1979.