Viola is widely acknowledged as the leading video artist on the international scene. His video installations -- total environments that envelop the viewer in image and sound -- employ sophisticated state-of-the-art technologies and are distinguished by their precision and direct simplicity. A room-sized installtion, Ascension is a significant example of the artist's approach. In this video work, a fully clothed male figure jumps with thunderous sound into a body of dark water, only to descend slowly into darkness. Respondoing to the ideas of spiritual redemption and the cycles of birth and death, Viola's use of state-of-the-art technology and visual elegance crates a consuming emotional experience.
Source: DMAC NEWS May June 2001
Bill Viola is a pioneer in the art of video installation. Working with technology that utilizes sight and sound, he creates sculptures of experience. In Ascension, viewers are engulfed in a dark ocean-like atmosphere and presented with a visual narrative of the moments before, during, and after the jarring, visceral occurrence of a man plunging into water. The work is infused with aspects of both the natural and spiritual worlds, particularly Christianity. The sinking, solitary figure, with his straight torso and outstretched arms, alludes to the crucifixion of Christ, while the rising figure metaphorically describes his ascent into heaven. The transformation of the body into a multitude of tiny rising bubbles reflects the sublime nature of this work.
Images (4)
Audio (2)
Bill Viola (American, born 1951)
Ascension, 2000
Run Time: 2:27
Recorded by Bill Viola, artist
Well, I think today that the most important questions are not being asked on a number of levels. And for me personally one of the most important question’s that’s been overlooked is the question of “why?” When Newton, one of the greatest minds that ever lived on this Earth, one of the most extraordinary scientists of all time; when he sat under the proverbial apple tree and the apple fell, he looked up and saw the apple he asked a very different question than what humanity up until that time in the 17th century was asking. And that was, he looked at that and said, “How did it fall? How did it happen?” So it’s a very short jump from there, to the cosmos, to the stars, to the planets that understand the celestial mechanics as they call it. And how they actually work and how they happen and what’s going on.
In the Middle Ages and to the dim past, people had always wanted to know “how did the apple fall? Why did it fall?” And there were many theories about that –God made it fall or its proper place is on the Earth, which Aristotle told. So the question of why is so essential when you approach art as a person, as just a common person who has so specialization in art. So many people today, I hade a young kid come up to me today, after I gave a little talk about my piece Ascension. And that little boy, he looked at me, he must have been about maybe eight or nine, he looked at me and he said, “Oh, when the man sunk to the bottom there, did you have an extra air tank down there so he could take a breath?” I said, “Yes” and I explained to him that there was a person another diver there and he walked away. And I thought, oh! I was saddened because I should have stopped him immediately and said, “That’s not important. Of course I did. The importance is why did I make a piece that had that image of that man fall. What does that mean inside us—inside ourselves—to see a human being move up to the light and then sink down in the darkness?” And that’s not what’s being asked in our technical age when everyone wants to know how things are done. And I think that why question comes not from the mind but from the heart, is the question that we have to always have to have in front of ourselves—especially now.
