Bill Viola at St Paul's

March 2010

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Internationally acclaimed US video artist Bill Viola has been commissioned to create two altarpieces for St Paul's Cathedral, London. The major project will be the city's first video altarpiece and will see large multi screen videos, permanently installed in early 2011.

Ocean Without A Shore, 2007. Original installation at church of San Gallo, Venice. Photograph: Kira Perov/Public Domain

Bill Viola, a pioneer in the medium of video art, has for over 35 years created a wide range of video installations at locations across the world from major museums to royal palaces and universities. Focusing on universal human experiences - life, death and rebirth - the artist’s work has roots in both Eastern and Western art. The St Paul's altarpieces will be dedicated to Mary and the Martyrs.

Viola plans to film the Mary sequence in the desert as well as use a real woman (or women) to represent Mary. "There is strong connection between the symbolism of Mary and the current environmental crisis", Viola observes, "Mother Earth is wounded and suffering, and I think it will not just be technology, but feminine powers that will be required to restore balance and equilibrium." The Martyrs altarpiece will create an opposing image to Mary, focusing on inward sacrifice and posing the ultimate question on life/death - "What would you be willing to give your life for?"

While many video artists have been quick to adopt new technologies to their medium, Viola relies little on computer editing and his use of ultra‐slow motion encourages the viewer to sink into often painterly images. The Messenger which was temporarily shown in Duhran Cathedral (England) in 1996 captures a form immersed in water; slowly it nears to reveal a naked human body. Eventually, the body breaks the surface of the water, breathes and then sinks back down again. The Commissioner of The Messenger for the Durham Cathedral commented - "Eyes are opened, hearts are made aware and minds engage in seeking and understanding the essential reality of life."

While in a similar vein to The Messenger Viola acknowledges the magnitude of the current St Paul's project saying, "It's both thrilling and daunting.

The Messenger, 1996. Original installation at Durham Cathedra, England. Image: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

The works will be there, in a space I don't control…In the end I hope the final pieces at St Paul's will function both as aesthetic, conceptual objects of art and as practical objects of contemplation."

St Paul's Cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1675 and 1710, has already hosted a range of temporary installations by living artists including Yoko Ono and Rebecca Horn.

Canon Martin Warner, Treasurer of St Paul's, says that the new Viola videos should attract some five million tourists who visit Tate Modern every year. "We hope that there will be an annual turnover of something major that comes into the cathedral," he says, "The huge numbers of people that visit Tate on the opposite side of the Millennium Bridge from us are an indication of that fascination with...how you can express what is intangible but real and that comes very close to what Christian faith is all about."

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