THE PLACE TO BE
PRIMAL DREAM: A still from Viola’s video installation First Light, 2002.
BILL VIOLA/BILL VIOLA STUDIO
PIONEERING VIDEO artist Bill Viola is concerned with nothing less than life and death, evident in the titles of his pieces: Heaven and Earth, Man in Nature, Chapel of Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures. Such ambition can yield pretension, but at its best, his unique fusion of the conceptual and visual is truly transcendent. Yet despite countless solo shows and numerous awards, Viola’s work has never been laid out in full—until now. Beginning June 30, Spain’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao will present a major retrospective, “really the peak of our exhibition experience,” says his wife and longtime collaborator, Kira Perov.