Sculpture Studio Spring 2010

/

Michael Bargamian



Back to Index

Project 3: Site, Place, and Installation
ARTIST RESEARCH

 

Bill Viola

Bill Viola The Sleep of Reason

Bill Viola, The Sleep of Reason, 1988

 

Bill Viola’s body of work can be seen as being heavily implicated in the issue of “site” of “place” due to the fact that his works are looking to focus on shared, human experiences. Viola’s video installation works, which have been described as “moving paintings”, use, “…The inner language of subjective thoughts and collective memoires to communicate to large audiences and allows viewers to experience the work directly and in their own personal way” (billviola.com). At the same time, Viola’s works tend to focus on “universal human experiences” such as life, death and the changing of consciousness (billviola.com). In other words, Viola’s work may be grounded in a particular subject, such as birth or death, but the work is accessed in such a way that the viewer is able to bring their own questions and answers to a piece. This “openness” to his works can be felt when Viola describes his own style as being part of the, “…Thresholds of transition in between two things… Where things are not clear and you can’t decide between ‘this and that’” (designboom).
     At the same time that Viola’s works are open for the audience to bring their own thoughts to the work, there is also a technical mastery of the video media that lets Viola’s works be so powerful. The mixed use of both analog and digital video equipment let Viola’s videos move in and out of time, he slows down on-screen activity so that it seems to last forever or the videos might appear to be still, until sudden, jarring actions interrupt the calm image the viewer is witnessing (Maerkle).

     An example of all of these elements at play can be seen in Viola’s video and sound installation, The Sleep of Reason (1988). In this piece, the viewer is standing in a room in which there is a small, black and white monitor sitting on a wooden chest. The monitor shows the viewer a close-up of someone sleeping, until without warning, the lights in the room cut out, plunging the room into total darkness, at the same time a disturbing moan/roar fills the room (SFMOMA). In addition to this, large color images are displayed on the three backing walls, showing images ranging from, “…Fires burning uncontrollably in buildings, fierce attack dogs lunge at the camera, violent ocean waves crash into the shore, and a provoked owl flies into a bright light” (SFMOMA). Just as suddenly as it begins, the images cut out and the room returns to normal.

Now how does this piece answer the question of site? Unlike the earthworks of Robert Smithson, where the work is absolutely tied to whatever environment it was conceived and built in (The Spiral Jetty and the Great Salt Lake), Viola’s work exists firstly within it’s own context and then allows for larger connections to be made. In The Sleep of Reason there is no outside environment for the work to connect to, instead the viewer is greeted by these unstable images that come into conflict with one another. What is the reason of sleep? What are these creatures and scenes on the wall? Are they the dreams of the man in the monitor or our they the dreams of the artist or of society? Essentially, Viola’s work is site-based because he has created an environment for the viewer to come into contact with a certain subject or idea, bring in their own thoughts about it and then apply them to the outside world and to ourselves. The work is a method of how we perceive things in the world and how we are connected to them and the larger whole of the world/society (Maerkle).

 

Viola, St. John

Bill Viola, Room for St. John of the Cross, 1983

Another case of where Viola’s video installations are site based is his piece, Room for St. John of the Cross (1983). In this work a black cube sits in the middle of a dark room, and inside the cube the viewer can see a small wooden table with a color video monitor, a pitcher and a glass of water sitting on it and a voice can be heard reciting the poetry of St. John in Spanish (SFMOMA). Outside of the cube, a large, chaotic and constantly moving projection of black and white mountains covered in snow is seen with a loud roaring sound filling the room (SFMOMA).

     This piece relates to the idea of site in that Viola is creating an environment/site for the viewer to become fully immersed in the ideas and the life of St. John. One half of the piece provides a more physical representation of St. John (the cube with its water glass and reciting of his poetry) while also giving a more “visual” representation with the chaotic images of mountains, which relates directly to St. John’s poetry. The work becomes a place where a viewer can experience the ideas behind a man’s life and determine how they connect to their own existence.

 

 

Sources:

"Artist Biography." Bill Viola. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. http://www.billviola.com/.

Viola, Bill. Interview by Designboom. designboom. N.p., 9 June 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/viola.html.

"Bill Viola Exhibition Feature." SFMOMA. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2012.             http://www.sfmoma.org/media/features/viola/index.html.

Maerkle, Andrew. "Bill Viola: Beyond Horizon." James Cohan Gallery. N.p., 7 Nov. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/bill-viola/articles-and-reviews/

 

Images:

http://www.cjp.be/recensie/2011/09/19/stilte-en-schoonheid-gaasbeek

artstor.com

 

 

 

 

Jenny Holzer

 

Holzer, Fathers

Jenny Holzer, Truism Series, Fathers Often Use Too Much Force, 1982

 

The work of Jenny Holzer is connected to the issue of site through the fact that the strength and power of Holzer’s works is directly related to the public place that they are shown at. Holzer’s long-running series, known as Truisms, are curious, written statements that mimic advertisements in how they are placed and shown – they appear on billboards, coffee mugs and television commercials  (designboom). However, instead of selling the latest must-have product or celebrity, Holzer’s works contain statements such as, “Money creates taste” and “Enjoy yourself because you can’t change anything anyway.” But what helps add to the power of these “Truisms” is how they appear in the environment. Holzer’s works are purposefully displayed in public areas so that people come across the work inadvertently, while on their daily business (Smee).

     Holzer’s work, which always finds its medium in writing, can be deliberately “scrambled” or cryptic in terms of their messages, which invites the viewer to, “…Complete the thoughts, to echo, amplify, or shrink from the feelings the work elicits” (Buchloh). When a viewer comes across Holzer’s work in their normal environment, the piece causes some form of reaction, through the use of these curious organizations of language (PBS). An example of all of these aspects at play can be seen in Holzer’s Truism, Fathers often use too much force (1982). This Truism, which appeared on a large Spectacolor board in Times Square, plays off of the fact that the area that it is in is such a busy and popular area. Hundreds of people could walk through this area, expecting to see more “normal” advertisements, only to be greeted by Holzer’s work. The work is powerful through the fact that the viewer does not expect to see such a glaring, and accusatory statement amongst the ads for movies and world news. This work and many others like it work on based on the fact that the words appear as “almost familiar phrases” at the same time as being very critical of society while still seeming impersonal and distant, which critiques and undermines the messages normally seen in the media (Fineberg 461).

Holzer, Boys

Jenny Holzer, Truism Series, Raise Boys And Girls The Same Way

Now again the question can be raised as to how do these text-based works relate to the concept of site? Again, the answer is that Holzer’s works relate to space in that each Truism or her later Xenon project (which are large, projections of text on the surrounding landscape) plays off of the already established surroundings – which could range from a sports score board or a highway billboard or a poster. In other words, Holzer’s texts are powerful because they subtly relate, critique and undermine the advertising style that fits for that area. For example, Holzer’s Truism, Raise boys and girls the same way, was displayed on the scoreboard of a baseball game in which the style of it’s writing and display made it fit in perfectly with the other information about the ongoing game. The piece is related to the space around it because it is critiquing the ideas behind sports culture and the way it effects the raising of boys and girls; with this Truism, Holzer is using her text and the space around it to draw light to this glaring problem in society. With these pieces being viewed by such large and diverse crowds, thanks in part to their location and display method, Holzer is working with the belief that the act of many people reading together in public will lead to a great potential impact (Smee).

 

Sources:

Holzer, Jenny. "To Whom It May Concern." Interview by Benjamin Buchloh. ARTINFO. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2012.             http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/29158/to-whom-it-may-concern/.

Fineberg, Jonathan. Art Since 1940. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.

"Jenny Holzer." designboom. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.             http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/holzer.html.

"Jenny Holzer." Art21. PBS, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/jenny-holzer.

Smee, Sebastian. "Illuminated poetry delivers insights at ICA." The Boston Globe. Cheim & Read, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. http://www.cheimread.com/artists/jenny-holzer/?view=press.

 

Images:

artstor.com

http://www.asexuality.org/en/index.php?/topic/5061-art-mainly-jenny-holzer/

 


Back to Index
This page was last updated: March 18, 2012 9:35 PM