Installation Art

Installation art.

Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. They are also made with the viewer in mind so they are often interactive so that the viewer is fully submerged into the artwork.

Bill Viola “The messenger”

His work “The Messenger” consists of a man rising from the depths of water and slowly falling back into the darkness so that that the cycle can start again. The work reminds me of the cycle of life and death, the man taking his first breath from the water symbolises the new life and the man disappearing with darkness reminding me of death .The piece of work is was displayed in Durham Cathedral as part of the “celebrations of UK Year of visual arts.”

Viola’s work caused a lot of controversy because of where it was placed. The man is naked, and that was the cause of the trouble.  The cathedral thought that the audience would see it as moral outrage and obscenity but the response of the public proved to be far more mature then the people who assumed they were protecting people’s morals. It was decided by the cathedral that they would put canvas screens around the piece of work so that people who didn't want to see didn't have to. Even though we are born naked the cathedral saw this as an obscene thing to be put into the cathedral.  The fact that the work had to have screens put around the work made the work seem less important as art and more as a work of obscenity that was forbidden to see.  The artwork was site specific meaning that the artwork was created for the cathedral, it wouldn't have looked right in any other place then there because of the way it was about religious mysticism.