The constantly reported improvements to cyber arcades - all those blinking lights and ever more realistic virtual worlds - may provide a thrill for those of a certain age, but where's a thinking adult to find the deeper yet still awe-inspiring uses of new media? Check the art world. Artist Bill Viola's breathtaking 25-year retrospective is a high tech funhouse for adults. It's a darkened, dazzling labyrinth of 15 room-sized video installations that pulsate with large-screen projections, slowly spinning mirrors, and brief thunderous sounds.
The electrical pyrotechnics wouldn't do much without an artistic intention, and, thankfully, Viola is as much a master of his medium as he is a supreme content provider. During the course of his consistently interesting career, the Southern California-based artist has explored the juicy realm of mortality and dreams - in mind-blowing ways. Using surprising configurations of video and sound, Viola does something amazing: he penetrates the barriers between objectivity and subjectivity. In his 1988 piece The Sleep of Reason, for example, he evokes a bedroom in which the sights and sounds of nightmares briefly, and violently, take over actual space.
Time is also of the essence. In a number of works, Viola captures feelings of loss, longing, and the fluidity of the moment. In the 1987 piece Passage, a 26-minute videotape of a child's birthday party is enlarged to wall scale in a small room and plays out over seven hours. It may sound deadly dull, but in this artist's masterful hands, the scene becomes a haunting, looming memory of a long-lost event.
It's also in the realm of time that the exhibition stretches the entertainment dollar. These durational pieces could take days to see in their entirety (though abbreviated viewing provides powerful results), and a concurrent, rather extensive program of Viola's single-channel videotapes extends the possibilities even further. But of course, quantity isn't everything. Viola offers plenty of material and presents it seamlessly, and his images are so compelling they seem to etch themselves into your mind. Just like those kids hanging out in the cyber arcade, you'll have to drag yourself away.
"Bill Viola": through May 10 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; touring internationally. Whitney Museum: +1 (212) 570 3600.
STREET CRED
Age of Interpretation Online Synergy
Video Effects
