What a brilliant idea for a film festival to open its doors to contemporary art! The Bill Viola Vizje Csasu – Visions of time exhibition takes us out of the two-dimensional projection to make us move around in the midst of immersive works.
Bill Viola, born in 1951 in New York and deceased in 2024, was an American video artist. He was among the first contemporary artists to explore video techniques, embracing their successive technological advancements. He is particularly known for his imposing video installations. His works are not cinematic narratives, but rather visual associations that demonstrate a deliberate artistic exploration, evoke emotion, and compel us to create our own stories. His work draws on in-depth philosophical and psychological studies, as well as the history of painting. References to religious iconography are frequently found within it.
“Martyrs” Series – Fire – Water
The Tumult Foundation, housed in a former church, and the Znaki Czasu Contemporary Art Center host works that are sometimes monumental. One is captivated by these large vertical formats, long, static shots in slow motion projected onto plasma screens. It’s a moment to catch your breath away from the frenetic pace of the festival, where films, seminars, and technical demonstrations follow one after another.
Bill Viola, Inverted Birth at the Tumult Foundation
Bill Viola, Inverted Birth at the Tumult Foundation
Bill Viola’s works are not at Camerimage by chance, because the techniques used are eminently cinematic: studio lighting, sets built for the sequences, professional actors, extreme slow motion, shots in reverse playback…
We see the texture of the images become more refined over the years, with the advancement of technology. Indeed, Viola used the video medium from the early 1970s. He was initially interested in the electronic signal for his sound research. For the creation of his images, he preferred the immediacy of the rendering, which is not possible with film due to the development time required.
The shots are minimalist, with few special effects; almost everything is filmed in-camera. The strangeness of the situations holds our attention. They invite meditation, something the artist has practiced extensively.
In Three Women , the characters—a young girl, a middle-aged woman, and an elderly woman—pass through a liquid curtain (the elements of water, earth, and fire are recurring themes in Viola’s work). The transition, within the same shot, from a heavily noised black-and-white space to a more colorful and defined universe is unsettling.
Bill Viola, Three Women © Bill Viola Studio
For the installation The Veiling , one of the few works presented here using montage and camera movements, two video projectors face each other onto parallel suspended veils. Their beams intersect, the images are deconstructed depending on the angle from which they are viewed, and new forms are created.
Bill Viola – The Veiling
The exhibition is on display in Toruń until December 31, 2025.
Bill Viola Wizje Czasu – Visions of Time
curation: Marek Żidowicz and Kira Perov
https://camerimage.pl/en/news/bill-viola-w-toruniu–wystawa–ktora-porusza-dusze
