Bill Viola

Christian Marclay a Swiss-American visual artist and composer, he concentrated on the sound that no one wanted, in other words the scrapes and cracks on a record, so alternatively he composed music and art using this method, it was a provocation of sound. But in my view to be determined as art or not, can only be judged by those viewing it and to be honest listening to parts of that small documentary in class was more like torture than music, it is also ironic that he shows a guitar being dragged by a truck, which was a method of torture used by the ku klux klan.  I like that he raised controversy and questioned American society with that brave piece, so therefore I do like some of the ideas behind his art, but ultimately I don’t think I would listen to too much of it.

                I do believe that when making moving images it doesn’t have to be an obvious idea, but it should make its audience think, it should always be an aesthetic experience and emotionally crippling. Bill Viola is a contemporary video artist who covers all of these aspects to gain himself the respect of being recognised as a leading artist. Although I do believe majority of his fame comes from the controversy raised about his art pieces, also his use of site specific art, as he displays some of his work simultaneously alongside each other in order to achieve the full impact of what he is trying to convey. The most controversial piece in my eyes is ‘the passing’, I really don’t think it is ethical to video each moment of your mother’s death, even she gave her consent or not, it is a completely inhumane act that lacks compassion. Pushing the boundaries of ‘art’ went too far in this case, why would you want a video to remind you of your mother’s slow death? Although my response to this video may be Bill Viola’s aim, in other word he may have wanted the audience to detest this video and be infuriated by its concept, he wanted to uncover these emotions in the audience, because watching the video I could not help but personalised it, so maybe the emotional response of the audience is the art? Without a doubt Bill Viola is influential, mesmerising and somewhat eerie to a certain extent.