The world remembers Bill Viola (1951-2024)

The pioneering American video artist Bill Viola died at his home in Long Beach, California, on Friday 12th July. Throughout his life, Viola produced videotapes, installations, sound works, electronic music and works for live TV broadcast. His work was strongly influenced by mysticism and Zen philosophy, as well as technological developments and the audio-visual artwork of Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman and Nam June Paik. Viola was well-known for using extreme slow motion to prolong scenes and heighten emotions in video works that explored birth, death and consciousness. According to the New York Times, the 73-year-old American artist died of complications related to Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Since the artist’s death was announced in a joint statement between galleries James Cohan and Kukje and artist management agency Southern & Partners, tributes began flowing in from former colleagues, peers, friends and those who simply admired his work.

James Cohan, director of James Cohan Gallery, New York, which represented Viola from 1992, wrote: “My initial encounters with Bill Viola’s work in 1987 at MoMA and then again in the 1991 documenta left me awestruck by his ability to marry technology with a deeply felt poetic, one that addressed the essential experience of life and death. Using video and film – the moving image – a medium which we all take for granted, to plumb the depths of human emotion will be Viola’s lasting contribution to art history. Bill’s work speaks to the informed viewer as much as the uninitiated. Our 32-year-long relationship has been a defining experience for me and our gallery.”

Graham Southern, of Southern and Partners, added, “I was privileged to have known Bill for more than a quarter of a century, working together on extraordinary projects. Spending time with him changed my perception of the world around me. From our conversations during time spent together, ranging from the mundane to the sublime, his love of goofy jokes to his deep philosophical and spiritual insights, we will all miss you, Bill.”

In 2017, Viola was made an honorary Royal Academician. Christopher Le Brun, artist and former president of the Royal Academy, said he was “very sad” to learn of Viola’s death. “I remembered going to see Bill Viola and his wife Kira Perov in March 2018 at his studio at Long Beach California. We were there to discuss and plan the Bill Viola/Michelangelo exhibition that was to open at the Royal Academy in January 2019. This happy photo also records the fact that I took the opportunity to present him, formally, with his medal as he had recently been elected an Honorary Academician,” he wrote. “I remember sitting in the darkness of the studio watching a preview of Tristan’s Ascension. In person he was gentle and thoughtful, sadly already showing some signs of his illness – such that he was unable to travel to London for the opening. He had a subtle and respectful appreciation of painting and especially of how time works in painting. He also had the visionary artist’s instinct for how to find fresh beauty and nobility in the great universal human subjects that he was to cite in the exhibition’s subtitle: Life, Death, Rebirth.”

John Hanhardt, art historian and curator. In 1985, Hanhardt curated his second show of Viola’s work, at the Whitney Biennial. Theater of Memory, was the first video work to be shown at the biennial alongside painting and sculpture. He posted a tribute on Instagram: “Remembering Bill Viola. A brilliant and inspiring artist. He transformed the form and aesthetics of the moving image. A remarkable and lasting achievement and contribution to art history. I learned so much from my friend. Conversations in his studio, discussing poets and philosophy. So many memories and thoughts. I’m devastated… My heart goes out to Kira and the family.”

Filmmaker Isaac Julien commented on Hanhardt’s post, offering his sympathies and memories – “❤️ Sending my condolences to you John. Bill was inspirational. Where would moving-image art be today without him. The shows you curated with him were spectacular and publications. Five Angels for the Millennium is the piece that broke epistemological ground. Your curation and scholarship will stand the test of time. Thank you 🙏🏽, much love Isaac and Mark” – before posting his own tribute, “Bill Viola, where would we be without you! Saddened to hear you have passed away 🥲 May you rest in peace and in power!”

Robert Violette, publisher and founder of Violette Editions, remembered Viola’s “Genuine humility and love,” writing, “Love and condolences to Kira and family, and to everyone who worked with Bill. At the crowded opening of his 2004 National Gallery exhibition, The Passions, Bill got down on his hands and knees and kissed the feet of my then-small children, one still in his pushchair. He explained to them that while the hundreds of people present were there to celebrate him, in fact they were the most important people in the room, as they represented the future. Such was Bill’s genuine humility and love.”

“RIP Maestro — Bill Viola!” wrote media artist Refik Anadol, “We shared many moments and had the honor of hearing his wisdom and advice and learning how he pushed video art to the heights many artists inspired and learned from! With respect and love. 🙏”

Those who Viola influenced include writer Daniel Thawley, “Remembering #BillViola (1951-2024), one of the first artists who awakened me to the metaphysical power of nature’s beauty by isolating the elements and questioning our relationship with space and time,” He wrote. “Viola pushed the boundaries of technology and human endurance, applying classical knowledge in resolutely contemporary creations. Experiencing his works in conversation with Renaissance masters and his 20th-century #videoart peers in museums and art spaces around the world has been a gift since my late teens.” British electronic musician Robin Rimbaud, AKA Scanner, commented: “His use of sound in the works was exemplary and so powerful. For myself, he was a huge influence in terms of the use of slow motion in movement and film. When I created my video work, 52 Spaces, with an accompanying soundtrack, it was heavily inspired by Viola.” American painter and Hauser & Wirth artist Amy Sherald wrote on Instagram: “loved his work so much – so powerful and one of the most impactful in my life 🕊.” And Kim Weild, a performance artist, said “A brilliant artist, a kind, compassionate, patient, and generous human being. He influenced many and moved more by connecting us with our humanity through his art. As a performer who worked with him on The Raft I can honestly say it was truly a great honor. He taught me a great deal but perhaps none more than observing and engaging with his own example of listening, seeing and being present with another human being. ‘Birth is not a beginning. Death is not an end.’”