Bill Viola. Icons of light

Bonaparte Palace, Rome

The exhibition offers a selection of 15 of the most significant installations and video projections by the greatest master of video art, Bill Viola. Influences of Zen philosophy, spiritual confrontation between West and East, reflections from Buddhist culture to Christian culture, erasure of political or geographical borders: these are the ancient themes expressed with a refined modern technique.

Icons of light

Under the direction of the artist’s wife, Kira Perov, forty years of Bill’s work are told in a journey that begins in the late 1970s with The Reflecting Pool and ends in 2014 with the spiritual ascent of four distinct “martyrs” in the “Martyrs” series, without forgetting works full of magnetism such as “Ascension” (2000) and works from the famous “Water Portraits” series (2015).

In the initial productions, Viola highlights the link between man and nature, with himself at the edge of a swimming pool facing his reflection in the water, oscillating between two elements, the human and the natural, between Yin and Yang, antithetical but communicating poles.

Once again nature, through the electronic medium, where a procession of men, women and children in the video “Study for The Path” crosses the green of a wood where the erasure of the beginning and of the end between the opposite stages of physical, spiritual and natural existence.

Bill Viola: Traditional Art

Bill Viola, innamorato conoscitore della storia dell’arte “tradizionale”, da giovane si formed in Italia, a Firenze e sul fine fine degli anni ’80 Viola tried to reinterpret in an irreal tempo carpite scene da cinematographic set.

Nelle due opere, Unspoken (Silver & Gold) e Observance della serie “Passions” , il protagonista è il volto umano, in cui l’espressione del dolore è ancorata alla perdita, al lutto, qualcosa di caro e perdto al confine delle intimate emozioni .

Performances: Water Portraits

The advent of the new millennium sees Viola exploring new languages ​​with real performances such as the Water Portraits. A group of actors of different ages and genders are immortalized underwater, enveloped in peaceful sleep as if returning to the primordial womb of their mother. The intense echo of the sound of water in the room accompanies the silence like an atonal melody that we all hear.

The vision of the Martyrs video/sound installation documents the effort and suffering of the four natural elements, water, air, earth and fire. Works in which the four actors are initially static, to then be invested by the irresistible momentum of the elements, to which they unfortunately succumb.

Hourly :

Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (the ticket office and the entrance close one hour before)

Special openings:

Monday April 18 and 25 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, May 1 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday, June 2 from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesday, June 29 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tickets :

Full price €16.50; concessions €14.50; concessions for university students €11.50; special concessions €8.50