Bill Viola
Seven metal barrels are filled to the brim with water. They each contain a black and white monitor positioned on the bottom. Each monitor shows a recording of a person's face while asleep. A different person appears in each barrel, and they remain isolated from each other. The soft light from the video screens emerges from each barrel and diffuses in the room. This video installation had to have another floor fitted to hide the wires from the monitor. The positioning of the monitors and how to display technical equipment (hiding or showing wires and what this says about the work) is an important element that I am experimenting with and discussing with other artists.
As Chris Townsend says in his introduction to The Art of Bill Viola the sort of emotional charge with which Viola's work is imbued could not be possible without the actual presence of the spectator; to appreciate Viola, you have to really get involved, physically experience all the sights and sounds of his installations.
The Sleepers, 1992 Video Installation
