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<p><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Bill
Viola: Five Angels for the Millennium and other new works</b> <br>
Until 21 July<br>
Anthony D'Offay, Dering Street, W1<br>
Mon-Fri 10am-5.30pm, Sat 10am-1pm</font></p>
<p><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Bill Viola's
work with the moving image has established him as one of the world's
leading video based artists. His current exhibition, at the Anthony
D'Offay gallery on Dering Street, W1 until July 21st, employs new plasma
screen technology, adapting traditional forms to a contemporary medium
and then challenging the way in which these images are processed by
their viewer. </font></p>
<p><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The first
part of the exhibition takes the portrait as its theme. Screens of different
shapes and sizes show close-ups of the faces of actors who have each
been briefed to convey a different emotion. These are slowed down to
the point where it's almost possible to perceive the distinct electrical
impulses that form the different stages of expression through which
the message of the image is relayed to the observer. It seems that Viola
is attempting to derail the onlooker's normal patterns of perception
here, as the visual messages are so changed that the different emotions
become extremely difficult to distinguish. It works - human faces become
indecipherable and unsettling. It's also interesting that these are
actors and that the emotion is therefore synthesised from the start.
</font></p>
<p><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Upstairs,
in a dark, and physically difficult to navigate room, more plasma screens
show pools of water which eject faceless human shapes in clouds of spray.
This element of the exhibition shows a progression, as we move from
an underwater perspective to an aerial view of a figure emerging from
water, and it is perhaps influenced in part by a near-drowning experience
which Viola had as a boy. Sound is used here and the representation
of churning water, often distorted to become white noise and interspersed
with vaguely appropriate sounds like intermittent sonar bleeps, continues
the process of disorientation whilst maintaining a subtle connection
with the kind of soundscape you'd expect in a clich�d underwater environment.
The same process of deconstructing preconceived ideas seems to be at
work. </font></p>
<p><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The exhibition
is consistently both challenging and great fun to view. Long after I'd
left the gallery I found myself scrutinising faces in the street, in
an attempt to apply what I'd seen to the regular speed world. Perhaps
it could be said that having taken us into his disorientating world,
Viola has successfully rehabilitated us, leaving us with a real sense
that our interpretations of experiences and emotions are much more open
to analysis than we might initially think. <br>
<br>
<i>Helen Crump</i></font></p>
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