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September 20, 2005

Bill Viola: impressions

thoughts on Bill Viola's work and words.

1) From Statement 1989: "... one must also embrace the first stages of an insight as being just as important as the insight itself." This reminds me of an important lesson for artists. the idea that the feelings associated with an idea, especially an idea worth pursuing, are sometimes the same feelings that might dissuade one from actually pursuing the idea. The confusion or uncertainty Viola talks about are all too common when embarking on the creative process -- how will my work live up to my initial idea? What if I fail in expressing it? And what am I actually trying to express, anyway?

2) the description of Hatsu Yume was reminiscent of my experience at the Noguchi museum; the idea that these rocks are moving in a different time than the world around them, time being relative to the observer, and different concepts of time being intertwined and rubbing against each other.

3) (Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House) Sound as a force. I love the experience of adapting to cacophony -- when background noises become so second nature that SILENCE becomes loud. When you first move to new york, it's almost impossible to sleep there is so much noise; but after time you grow used to it, and going back to the suburbs or the country, you find you miss the din, its gentle vibration against your skin.

4) In Statements 1985, Viola talks about his revelation that sound is a physical force, and that it is inseparable from our other senses. When the sound designers for a short film I produced left the project early and with unfinished sound, I discovered how much we rely on these invisible cues to place ourselves in a setting. Watching the film with overdubbed audio that hadn't been mastered left you feeling uneasy, untrusting of the environment. When the environment's natural ambience (though perhaps artificially) was recreated, the film felt more substantial, and more real.

Posted by Joshua Dickens at September 20, 2005 11:47 PM

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