The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Bill Viola: A Retrospective, a thematic and chronological survey of the career of Viola, one of the leading artists of our time and a pioneer in the development of video art. Organized by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and sponsored by Iberdrola, this ambitious exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of Viola’s oeuvre and the evolution of media art as an art form.
Bill Viola (b. 1951, New York) began to experiment with video art in the early 1970s through his
participation in the Experimental Studios program at Syracuse University (New York) directed by professor Jack Nelson. In Syracuse he met David Ross (curator of video art), and assisted such iconic figures in media art like Peter Campus and Nam June Paik at the Everson Museum of Art. With his interest in Eastern and Western mysticism, philosophies and poetry, Viola used the technical potential of video as a tool for a lifelong inquiry into the human condition, including birth and death, and the processes of change, rebirth, and transformation, all of which are prominent themes in his work.
