Installation.

Bill Viola

Bill Viola is a formalist who has developed a distinctive visual vocabulary to investigate the most primal human emotions. Major exhibitions of Viola's work have been held throughout Europe and North America, including a 1987 retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art.

 Slowly Turning Narrative. 1992 is a piece located in the center of a large, darkened room with an oversize screen that slowly rotates on a vertical axis. One side of the screen is mirrored; the other is matte. Two video projectors face the screen from opposite sides of the room. One projects a black-and-white video of a man's face seen in close-up, in harsh light, appearing distracted and at times strained. The other projects a series of color scenes of young children moving by on a carousel, a house on fire, a carnival at night,and kids playing with fireworks--that are characterized by continuous motion and turbulent light and color. The black-and-white imagery is accompanied by the sound of a voice rhythmically chanting a long list of phrases descriptive of states of being and individual actions, the color images by the ambient sounds associated with each scene.

As the screen rotates, its angle in relation to each projector alternately narrows and widens, warping the projected beams and spilling images onto the surrounding walls. The mirrored side of the screen sends distorted reflections--indistinct, gossamer forms--cascading over every surface in the room. In addition, viewers see images of themselves as well as the room around them reflected in the mirror as the screen revolves.

‘Slowly Turning Narrative’ is concerned with the enclosing nature of the self-image and potentially infinite (and therefore unattainable) states of being, all revolving around the still center of the self.

 The room, and everyone in it, becomes a continually shifting projection screen, with images and reflections. The entire space becomes an interior for the revelations of a constantly turning mind absorbed with it.

MoMA | The Collection | Bill Viola. (American, born 1951). 2012. MoMA | The Collection | Bill Viola. (American, born 1951). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=7898. [Accessed 24 April 2012].

I feel the most interesting part of this piece is,  as an Installation piece, it can be described as a 4 dimensional world where height, width, depth and time are the main components. Each viewer experiences the work in different ways and because of this, this creates new pieces of art within the actual work. I would absolutely love to experience this piece for myself.