Bill Viola

Bill Viola – Early artistic talent; pronounced interest in electronics

Bill Viola was born William Viola in New York on 25 January 1951. The shy and introverted-seeming youngster had a sheltered childhood in the district of Queens. He mostly withdrew to his own world away from family and friends. Aged only three, he produced his first drawings – his preferred motifs were motorboats, which he completed to perfection with the help of his mother. He received important recognition in kindergarten and school for his artistic engagement, which confirmed him on his artistic path. Following high school, he attended the renowned Syracuse University, where he studied with Franklin Morris and Jack Nelson. There, he had access to the most modern electronic equipment and could let his love of experimentation run free. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1973, and that same year, began his long-term collaboration with the avant-garde composer David Tudor, who also had close contact to John Cage.

Pioneer of video art, study trips and a stay in Japan

Bill Viola stayed in Florence from 1974 to 1976, where he worked as technical director in one of the first European studios for video art. Within this framework, he made the acquaintance of artists sch as Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik and Richard Serra, with whom he worked several times. As a pioneer of video art, he was one of the trailblazers of a medium that was in its infancy at that time. Numerous trips led him to Japan, India, Bali and Java, and in 1977, Viola met Kira Perov at a presentation in Australia. She followed him one year later to New York, where they married and began a lifetime of artistic collaboration. Together they travelled the Sahara and Tunisia to take pictures. In the early 1980s, the couple lived in Japan, and Bill Viola was the first permanent artist in the laboratories of the Sony Corporation. He was also interested in Zen Buddhism at this time and studied under Daien Tanaka. 

Worldwide celebrated installations and popular exhibitions

Bill Viola was responsible for numerous prestigious and sensational art projects. In 1955, he represented the USA at the 46 Biennale in Venice. In 1997, the Whitney Museum of American Art honoured him with an exhibition which travelled across the USA and Europe for two years, whilst in 2004, Bill Viola, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Peter Sellers hoisted a new production of Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde onto stages in Los Angeles, Paris and New York. Viola made video performance an internationally celebrated artform and his great ideas and concepts opened up a wide field for numerous young artists, whose works refer to his model.

Bill Viola lives and works with his wife Kira Perov and their two children in Long Beach, California.