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{{Short description|American video and installation artist (1951–2024)}}
{{Distinguish|Bill Viola (martial artist)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Bill Viola
| image            = BillViola.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| caption          = Viola in 2009
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1951|01|25}}
| birth_place      = New York City, New York, U.S.
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2024|07|12|1951|01|25}}
| death_place      = [[Long Beach, California]], U.S.
| field            = [[Video art]]<br />[[Electronic art]]<br />[[New media art]]
| training         = [[Syracuse University]] ([[Bachelor of Fine Arts|BFA]])
| movement         = 
| works            = ''Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House'' (1982)
| patrons          = 
| awards           = 
| website          = {{URL|billviola.com}}
}}

'''William John Viola Jr.''' ({{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|v|aɪ|oʊ|l|ə|}} {{respell|VY|oh|lə}}, {{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|v|iː|oʊ|l|ə|}} {{respell|VEE|oh|lə}}; January 25, 1951 – July 12, 2024) was an American [[video art]]ist<ref>[http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=&role=&nation=&prev_page=1&subjectid=500092205] Viola, Bill bio at the Getty Archive</ref> whose artistic expression depended upon electronic, sound, and image technology in [[new media]].<ref>Ross, David A. Forward. "A Feeling For the Things Themselves". ''Bill Viola'' Paris, Flammarion with Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.</ref> His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death, and aspects of consciousness.<ref name="billviola.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.billviola.com/biograph.htm|title=Biography|website=www.billviola.com}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
William John Viola Jr. was born on January 25, 1951, in [[Flushing, Queens]], New York,<ref name="NYT-obit" /> and grew up in [[Queens]] and [[Westbury, New York|Westbury]]. He attended P.S. 20, in Flushing, where he was captain of the TV Squad. On vacation in the mountains with his family, he nearly drowned in a lake, an experience he described as "… the most beautiful world I've ever seen in my life" and "without fear," and "peaceful."<ref>Bill Viola: The Eye of the Heart. Dir. Mark Kidal. DVD. Film for the Humanities & Sciences, 2005.</ref>

In 1973, Viola graduated from [[Syracuse University]] with a [[Bachelor in Fine Arts]] in experimental studies.{{r|grove}} Viola described the school as traditional and considered himself to be "one of the worst painters in the class."<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/778491 | jstor=778491 | title=An Interview with Bill Viola | last1=Bellour | first1=Raymond | last2=Viola | first2=Bill | journal=October | date=1985 | volume=34 | pages=91–119 | doi=10.2307/778491 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> He studied in Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts, including the Synapse experimental program, which evolved into [[CitrusTV]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bill Viola {{!}} Biography {{!}} The Cohen Family Collection|url=https://jmcohen.com/artist/Bill_Viola/biography/|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=jmcohen.com}}</ref>

== Career ==
From 1973 to 1980, Viola studied and performed with composer [[David Tudor]] in the new music group "Rainforest" (later named "Composers Inside Electronics"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://composers-inside-electronics.net/cie/cie/cie_home.html|title=cie home|website=composers-inside-electronics.net}}</ref>). From 1974 to 1976, Viola worked as technical director at {{Interlanguage link|Art/tapes/22|it}}, a pioneering video studio led by Maria Gloria Conti Bicocchi, in [[Florence]], Italy where he encountered video artists [[Nam June Paik]], [[Bruce Nauman]], and [[Vito Acconci]], before he became artist-in-residence at [[WNET]] Thirteen Television Laboratory in New York until 1983. In 1976 and 1977, he travelled to the [[Solomon Islands]], [[Java]], and [[Indonesia]] to record traditional performing arts.<ref name="RA"/>

Viola was invited to show work at [[La Trobe University]] (Melbourne, Australia) in 1977, by cultural arts director [[Kira Perov]]. Viola and Perov later married, beginning an important lifelong collaboration in working and traveling together. In 1980, they lived in Japan for a year and a half on a Japan/U.S. cultural exchange fellowship where they studied Buddhism with [[Zen]] Master Daien Tanaka.  During this time, Viola was also an artist-in-residence at [[Sony Corporation]]'s [[Atsugi]] Laboratories.<ref>[https://www.moma.org/artists/7898] Viola, Bill at [[MoMA]]</ref>

In 1983, he became an instructor in Advanced Video at the [[California Institute of the Arts]], in Valencia, California. Viola received a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]]<ref>{{Cite web
| url = https://www.gf.org/fellows/bill-viola/
| title = Bill Viola – John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
| website = www.gf.org
| access-date = May 30, 2024
}}</ref> for fine arts in 1985. Since the early Seventies he had exhibited his works regularly in group and solo exhibitions at [[Everson Museum of Art]] in Syracuse, at [[The Kitchen (art institution)|The Kitchen]], and the [[Museum of Modern Art]], where [[Barbara London (curator)|Barbara London]] directed the exhibition series "Projects", where works by Viola were shown 17 times and featured in two solo exhibitions until 1991.<ref>following</ref> He represented the United States at the 46th [[Venice Biennale]] in 1995 for which he produced a series of works called ''Buried Secrets'', including one of his best known works ''The Greeting'', a contemporary interpretation of [[Pontormo]]'s ''The Visitation''. In 1997, the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]] organized and toured internationally a major 25-year retrospective of Viola's work.<ref name="RA"/>

Viola was the 1998, Getty Scholar-in-residence at the [[Getty Research Institute]], Los Angeles. Later, in 2000, he was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]. In 2002, he completed ''Going Forth By Day'', a digital "fresco" cycle in [[high-definition video]], commissioned by the [[Deutsche Guggenheim]] Berlin and the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|Guggenheim Museum]], New York.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/10594|title=Bill Viola Going Forth By Day|publisher=Guggenheim Foundation|accessdate=July 16, 2024}}</ref>

In 2003, ''The Passions'' was exhibited in Los Angeles, London, Madrid, and Canberra. This was a major collection of Viola's emotionally charged, slow-motion works inspired by traditions within [[Renaissance]] devotional painting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/viola/|title=Bill Viola: The Passions (Getty Exhibitions)|website=www.getty.edu|access-date=January 30, 2017}}</ref>

The first biography of Viola, entitled ''Viola on Vídeo'', was written by Federico Utrera (King Juan Carlos University) and published in Spain in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 20, 2011 |title=Llega 'Viola on Vídeo', de Federico Utrera |url=https://www.europapress.es/cultura/noticia-llega-viola-on-video-federico-utrera-20110620153223.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |publisher=Europa Press}}</ref>

=== Bill Viola studio ===
Bill Viola studio is run by his wife, Kira Perov, who is the executive director.  She worked with Viola from 1978 managing and assisting him with his videotapes and installations. She documents their work in progress on location. All publications from the studio are edited by Perov.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview With Kira Perov From Bill Viola Studio ⇠ Blog ⇠ Borusan Contemporary |url=https://www.borusancontemporary.com/en/blog-interview-kira-perov-from-bill-viola-studio_866 |access-date=June 12, 2024 |website=www.borusancontemporary.com |language=en}}</ref>

== Death ==
Viola's wife and longtime creative collaborator was Kira Perov. He had two sons.

Viola died from complications of [[Alzheimer's disease]] at home in [[Long Beach, California]], on July 12, 2024, at the age of 73.<ref>{{cite news |title=Muere Bill Viola, 'el Caravaggio del videoarte' |url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20240713/9802369/muere-bill-viola-gran-superestrella-videoarte.html |access-date=July 13, 2024 |publisher=La Vanguardia |date=July 13, 2024}}</ref><ref name="NYT-obit">{{cite news |title=Bill Viola, Celebrated Video Artist Who Played With Time, Dies at 73|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/arts/bill-viola-dead.html|access-date=July 13, 2024 |work=The New York Times|date=July 13, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ci lascia Bill Viola, padre e maestro indiscusso della videoarte |url=https://www.exibart.com/personaggi/ci-lascia-bill-viola-padre-e-maestro-indiscusso-della-videoarte/ |access-date=July 14, 2024 |website=www.exibart.com |date=July 13, 2024 |language=it}}</ref>

== Artwork ==
=== Style ===
Viola's art deals largely with the central themes of human consciousness and experience – birth, death, love, emotion, and a kind of humanist spirituality. Throughout his career he drew meaning and inspiration from his deep interest in mystical traditions, especially [[Zen Buddhism]], [[Christian mysticism]], and [[Sufism|Islamic Sufism]], often evident in the [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendental]] quality of some of his works.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 6, 2024 |title=Bill Viola {{!}} American Academy of Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/bill-viola |access-date=June 12, 2024 |website=www.amacad.org |language=en}}</ref> Equally, the subject matter and manner of western [[medieval]] and [[renaissance]] devotional art informed his aesthetic.

He often explored [[Dualism in cosmology|dualism]], or the idea that comprehension of a subject is impossible unless its opposite is known. For example, a lot of his work has themes such as life and death, light and dark, fire and water, stressed and calm, or loud and quiet.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Quaranta |first=Dario |date=January 25, 2019 |title=Bill Viola {{!}} Video art |url=https://www.dadablob.com/bill-viola-video-art/ |access-date=June 6, 2023 |website=Dada Blob... Exotic worlds and Pop culture! |language=it-IT}}</ref>

His work can be divided into three types, conceptual, visual, and a unique combination of the two. Gardner feels that Viola's visual work, such as "The Veiling", and his combination of both the conceptual and visual, such as "The Crossing," are impressive and memorable.

Viola's work often exhibits a painterly quality, with his use of ultra-[[slow motion]] video encouraging the viewer to sink into the image and connect deeply to the meanings contained within it. This quality makes his work perhaps unusually accessible within a contemporary art context. As a consequence, his work often receives mixed reviews from critics, some of whom have noted a tendency toward grandiosity and obviousness in some of his work.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bill Viola A Retrospective |url=https://artreview.com/ar-september-2017-review-bill-viola-1/ |access-date=June 12, 2024 |website=artreview.com |language=en}}</ref>

Viola's interest in capturing the essence of [[emotion]] through recording of its extreme display began at least as early as his 1976 work, ''The Space Between the Teeth'', a video of himself screaming, and continued with such works as the 45-second ''Silent Mountain'' (2001), which shows two actors in states of anguish, which Viola described as "probably the loudest scream I've recorded."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tba21.org/silent-mountain|title=Silent Mountain|publisher=TBA 21 Gallery |accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref>

If Viola's depictions of emotional states with no [[objective correlative]] — emotional states for which the viewer has no external object or event to understand them by—are one feature of many of his works, another, which has come to the forefront, is his reference to [[medieval]] and [[classicism|classical]] depictions of emotion. His subdued ''Catherine's Room'' 2001, has many scene by scene parallels with Andrea di Bartolo's 1393 ''[[Catherine of Siena|St. Catherine of Siena Praying]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/76252|title=Bill Viola Catherine's Room|publisher=National Gallery of Scotland|accessdate=July 16, 2024}}</ref>

Viola's work has received critical accolades. Critic [[Marjorie Perloff]] singles him out for praise. Writing at length about the necessity of poetic works responding to and taking advantage of contemporary computer technologies, Perloff sees Viola as an example of how new technology—in his case, the video camera—can create entirely new [[aesthetic]] criteria and possibilities that did not exist in previous incarnations of the genre — in this case, theater.<ref>Marjorie Perloff: [http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/perloff/viola.html The Morphology of the Amorphous: Bill Viola's Videoscapes], Poetry on & Off the Page: Essays for Emergent Occasions, by Northwestern University Press, 1998,
{{ISBN|0-8101-1561-1}}</ref>

== Video art projects ==
[[File:Bill and Jamie (3342782140).jpg|thumb|Bill Viola and Jamie Jewett discussing their technique]]
While many video artists have been quick to adopt new technologies to their medium, Viola relied little on [[Digital media|digital editing]]. Perhaps the most technically challenging part of his work, and that which has benefited most from the advances since his earliest pieces, is his use of extreme [[slow motion]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 15, 2023 |title=Video art by pioneer Bill Viola comes to RAMM |url=https://rammuseum.org.uk/news/video-art-by-pioneer-bill-viola-comes-to-ramm/ |access-date=June 12, 2024 |website=RAMM |language=en-GB}}</ref>

His early works include ''The Reflecting Pool'' (1977–79), inspired by a lake drowning he experienced underwater before being saved by his uncle while on a family vacation that left a mark on his life and work.<ref>[https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/learn/schools/teachers-guides/reflecting-pool-1977-79 The Reflecting Pool, 1977–79{{!}}Guggenheim Museum Bilbao]</ref>

=== ''Reverse Television'' ===
{{main|Reverse Television}}
''Reverse Television'' (1983) is a 15-minute montage of people watching video cameras as though they were televisions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eai.org/title.htm?id=701|title=Reverse Television – Portraits of Viewers (Compilation Tape)|website=Electronic Arts Intermix|accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref>

=== ''The Quintet Series'' ===
''The Quintet Series'' (2000–2001) is a set of four separate videos that shows the unfolding expressions of five actors in slow motion so that details of their changing expressions can be detected. The work references European [[Renaissance]] [[Old Masters]] such as [[Hieronymous Bosch]] and [[Dieric Bouts]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/492174|title=The Quintet of Remembrance|publisher=MOMA.org|accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref>

=== Collaboration with Nine Inch Nails ===
In 2000, Viola collaborated with the [[industrial rock]] [[Band (rock and pop)|band]] [[Nine Inch Nails]] and its lead singer [[Trent Reznor]] to create a video suite for the band's tour. The [[triptych]] mainly is focused on water imagery and was supposed to be integral with the songs that were played.<ref>Alan Rifkin: [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-28-tm-viola04-story.html "Bill Viola"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', January 28, 2007</ref>

=== ''An Ocean Without a Shore'' ===
In 2007, Viola was invited back to the 52nd [[Venice Biennale]] to present an installation called ''An Ocean Without a Shore'', which was named after a quote from [[Ibn ʿArabī]].<ref>{{cite web| first = Jane | last = Carroll | title = Connecting with the Unseen World| url = https://besharamagazine.org/arts-literature/bill-viola/| website = Beshara Magazine| date = 2019| access-date = March 18, 2023}}</ref> The work consists of people standing in the foreground with nothing but black behind them. Each of them seem to produce gallons of water from themselves as if they were waterfalls. The water comes gushing out of their bodies as if they are being reborn. This main piece seems to creates the effect of appearing as a nearly transparent wall of glass. Viola described the piece in an interview as being "about the fragility of life, like the borderline between life and death is actually not a hard wall; it's not to be opened with a lock and key, it's actually very fragile, very tenuous."<ref>{{cite web| title = Bill Viola: Venice Biennale 2007| url = https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bill-viola-2333/bill-viola-venice-biennale-2007| website = Tate.org.uk| date = July 29, 2007| access-date = March 18, 2023}}</ref>

=== ''Observance'' ===
''Observance'' (2002), is a work which may be taken partly as a response to the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Rose |first=Cameron |title=Poetic documentary and visual anthropology: representing intellectual disability on screen
|quote=Bill Viola's homage to 9/11 Observance (2002) successfully demonstrates the affective power of the moving image. |date=2014 |publisher=[[Monash University]]}}</ref> The installation involves about four or five individuals in a small frame. Although cramped in this small space, they seem to not want to move out of it. One of the youngest individuals in the group comes forward to the front center of the crowd looking at something with an air of solace. In this action, the actions of the other individuals makes more sense. There is something foreboding and tragic in front of them.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 15, 2024 |title=Auckland Art Gallery |url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/article/vale-bill-viola |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250215061620/https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/article/vale-bill-viola |archive-date=February 15, 2025 |access-date=May 22, 2025 |website=Auckland Art Gallery |language=en}}</ref>

=== ''The Tristan Project'' ===
In 2004, Viola embarked on ''The Tristan Project''. At the invitation of opera director [[Peter Sellars]], he created video sequences to be shown as a backdrop to the action on stage during the performance of [[Wagner]]'s opera [[Tristan und Isolde]]. Using his extreme slow motion, Viola's pieces used actors to portray the metaphorical story behind Wagner's story, seeing for example the first act as an extended ritual of purification in which the characters disrobe and wash themselves before finally plunging headlong into water together (in Wagner's story, the two characters maintain the facade of being indifferent to each other (necessary because Isolde is betrothed to Tristan's uncle) before, mistakenly believing they are going to die anyway, and reveal their true feelings). The piece was first performed in Los Angeles at Disney Hall on 3 separate evenings in 2004, one act at a time, then given complete performances at the [[Bastille Opera]] in Paris in April and in November 2005.<ref>Adrian Searle: [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2006/jun/29/1 Bill Viola: Haunch of Venison/St Olave's College, London], The Guardian, June 29, 2006</ref> The video pieces were later shown in London without Wagner's music in June to September 2006, at the [[Haunch of Venison]] Gallery and St. Olave's School, London. The Tristan project returned, both in music and video, to the [[Disney Hall]] in Los Angeles in April 2007, with further performances at New York City's [[Lincoln Center]] in May 2007 and at the Gergiev Festival in [[Rotterdam]], The Netherlands, in September 2007.<ref name="NPR"/>

=== ''The Night Journey'' ===
In 2005, he began working with [[Tracy Fullerton]] and the Game Innovation Lab at [[University of Southern California|USC]] on the [[art game]], ''The Night Journey'', a project based on the universal story of an individual's mystic journey toward enlightenment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenightjourney.com|title=Welcome|website=The Night Journey}}</ref> The game has presented at a number of exhibits worldwide as a work in progress.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenightjourney.com/?portfolio=exhibit-list|title=Welcome|website=The Night Journey}}</ref> It was awarded Sublime Experience at [[IndieCade]] 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiecade.com/games/event/2008/|title=Browse by Events :: Past Selections :: IndieCade – International Festival of Independent Games|website=www.indiecade.com|access-date=January 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619201613/http://www.indiecade.com/games/event/2008/|archive-date=June 19, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== ''Bodies of Light'' ===
In October 2009, Viola's solo exhibition entitled "Bodies of Light" appeared at the [[James Cohan Gallery]] in New York. Featured in the exhibition was Pneuma (1994), a projection of alternating images evoking the concept of fleeting memories. Also on view were several pieces from the Viola's ongoing "Transfiguration" series, which he evolved from his 2007 installation Ocean Without a Shore.<ref>Baker, Tamzin. "{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091116012557/http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/32956/bill-viola/ Bill Viola]}}." ''[[Modern Painters (magazine)|Modern Painters]]'', November 2009.</ref>

== Other projects ==
In 2004, Viola began work on a new production of [[Richard Wagner]]'s opera ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', a collaboration with director [[Peter Sellars]], conductor
[[Esa-Pekka Salonen]], and executive producer Kira Perov. The opera premiered at the [[Opéra National de Paris]] in 2005 and Viola's video work was subsequently shown as ''LOVE/DEATH The Tristan Project'' at the Haunch of Venison Gallery and St Olave's School, London, in 2006 and at the [[Walt Disney Concert Hall]], Los Angeles in 2007.<ref name="NPR">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2007/04/12/9506273/tristan-project-for-epic-wagner-just-add-video|title='Tristan Project': For Epic Wagner, Just Add Video|publisher=NPR.org|accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref> During 2007, the [[Monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas#The Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC)|Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo]] in Sevilla, organized an exhibition at the [[Palace of Charles V]] in la [[Alhambra]]- [[Granada]]- in which Viola's work dialogues with the Fine Arts Collection of the museum.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.caac.es/programa/billviola07/main.htm|title=
BILL VIOLA. THE INVISIBLE HOURS.|publisher=caac.es|accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref>

== Viola's Three Structures ==
Viola felt as if there are three different structures to describe patterns of data structures. There is the branching structure, matrix structure, and schizo structure.<ref>Wardrip-Fruin, Noah & Montfort, Nick (2003). ''The New Media Reader.'' Cambridge: MIT Press.</ref>

"The most common structure is called branching. In this structure, the viewer proceeds from the top to bottom in time."<ref name="Viola">Viola, Bill. "Will There Be Condominiums in Data Space". In: Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Nick Montfort (eds.).''The New Media Reader.'' MIT Press, 2003.</ref> The branching structure of presenting data is the typical narrative and linear structure. The viewer proceeds from a set point A to point B by taking an exact path, the same path any other reader would take. An example of this is Google because users go into this website with a certain mindset of what they want to search for, and they get a certain result as they branch off and end at another website.

The second structure is the Matrix structure. This structure describes media when it follows [[Nonlinear narrative|nonlinear progression]] through information. The viewer could enter at any point, move in any direction, at any speed, pop in and out at any place.<ref name="Viola"/> Like the branching structure, this also has its set perimeters. However, the exact path that is followed is up to the user. The user has the option of participating in decision-making that affect the viewing experience of the media. An example of this is Public Secrets, a website that reveals secrets of the justice and the incarceration system within the U.S. for women. There is a set boundary of what users can and cannot do while presenting them with different themes and subjects users are able to view. Different users will find themselves taking different paths, using flash cues to guide themselves through the website. This vast selection of paths presents many users with a unique viewing experience (in relation to that of the previous persons). As well, they have the choice to read the excerpts from these women or hear it out loud. This connects to Borges' "The Garden of Forking Paths"<ref>New Media Reader: Jorge Luis Borges' "The Garden of Forking Paths."<sup>ref unclear.</sup></ref> where the participant has a variety of choices on how they see a story unfold before them. Each time, they can create a different path.

The last structure is called the schizo, or the [[Spaghetti plot|spaghetti model]]. This form of data structure pertains to pure or mostly [[randomness]]. "Everything is irrelevant and significant at the same time. Viewers may become lost in this structure and never find their way out."<ref name="Viola"/>

== Awards ==
* 1984 [[Polaroid Corporation|Polaroid]] Video Art Award for outstanding achievement, US<ref name="RA"/>
* 1985 [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] for Fine Arts, US<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/bill-viola/|title=Bill Viola|publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref>
* 1987 [[Maya Deren Award]], [[American Film Institute]], US<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/01/movies/3-visual-artists-win-5000-film-awards.html | title = 3 Visual Artists Win $5,000 Film Awards | date = February 1, 1988 | work = [[The New York Times]]}}</ref> 
* 1989 [[MacArthur Foundation|John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation]] Award, US<ref name="RA"/>
* 1993 Skowhegan Medal (Video Installation), US<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eai.org/artists/bill-viola/biography|title=Bill Viola biography|publisher=EAI.org|accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref>
* 1993 Medienkunstpreis, [[Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie]], Karlsruhe, and [[Siemens]] Kulturprogramm, Germany<ref name="RA"/>
* 2000 Elected member of [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/bill-viola|title=Mr. Bill Viola|date=July 2, 2024 |publisher=amacad.org|accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref>
* 2003 Cultural Leadership Award, American Federal of Arts, US<ref name="RA"/>
* 2006 NORD/LB Art Prize, Bremen, Germany<ref name="RA"/>
* 2006 [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters]], government of France<ref name="RA"/>
* 2009 [[Eugene McDermott]] Award in the Arts, [[MIT]], Cambridge, MA<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/arts-mcdermott-adv-0227.html|title=Video artist Bill Viola to receive McDermott award|date=February 27, 2009 }}</ref> <!--He was awarded $75,000 and was able to go to MIT and help enhance the creative groups there. - 75k is not worth mentioning, the creative groups seem to have profited more.-/-->
* 2009 [[Catalonia International Prize]], Barcelona, Spain<ref name="billviola.com"/><ref>[http://www.gencat.cat/pic/eng/index.htm "22nd Premi Internacional Catalunya 2010"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090517082851/http://www.gencat.cat/pic/eng/index.htm |date=May 17, 2009 }}</ref>
* 2010 Honorary Doctorate from the [[University of Liège]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_1233755/bill-viola-recoit-les-insignes-de-docteur-honoris-causa |title=Université de Liège – Bill Viola reçoit les insignes de docteur honoris causa |access-date=September 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002044332/http://www.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_1233755/bill-viola-recoit-les-insignes-de-docteur-honoris-causa |archive-date=October 2, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Belgium
* 2011 [[Praemium Imperiale]], Japan<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archdaily.com/183050/praemium-imperiale-art-awards-2011-ceremony|title=Praemium Imperiale Art Awards 2011 Ceremony|date=November 5, 2011 |publisher=Archdaily.com|accessdate=July 14, 2024}}</ref>
* 2013 International Artist Award, [[Anderson Ranch Arts Center]], Snowmass Village, CO
* 2017 Elected as an Honorary Royal Academician by the [[Royal Academy of Arts]], UK <ref name="RA">{{cite web|url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/bill-viola-hon-ra|title=Bill Viola Hon RA (b. 1951), Royal Academy of Arts, London}}</ref>

== Solo exhibitions ==
* 1973 and 1975: ''New Video Works,''  and ''Rain – Three Interlocking Systems,'' [[Everson Museum of Art]], Syracuse, New York, US
* 1974 und 1977: [[The Kitchen (art institution)|The Kitchen]], New York City, New York, US
* 1979: ''Projects: Bill Viola,'' [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York, US (''He Weeps for You.'')<ref>[https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2305 ''Projects: Bill Viola''] in the online archive of the MoMA with three installation views and the press release ([[PDF]]).</ref>
* 1980: ''Chott el-Djerid,'' [[Long Beach Museum of Art]], Long Beach, California US
* 1981: ''Works from 1976 to 1981,'' [[Vancouver Art Gallery]], Canada
* 1982: [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], New York, US
* 1983: [[Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris]], France
* 1985: [[Moderna Museet]], Stockholm, Sweden
* 1985: ''The Temporary Contemporary,'' [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles]], US
* 1987: ''Bill Viola: Installations,'' Museum of Modern Art, New York, US<ref>[https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2162 ''Bill Viola: Installations'' in the online archive of the MoMA with 15 installation views], (as [[PDF]]s:) several press releases, checklist (with 18 works in six programs of 28–89 min), and the catalog, ''Bill Viola: Installations and Videotapes,'' edited by [[Barbara London (curator)|Barbara London]].</ref>
* 1988: ''Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House: Video Installations and Videotapes,'' [[Riverside Studios]], London, UK
* 1988: ''Bill Viola: Survey of a Decade,'' [[Contemporary Arts Museum Houston]], Texas, US
* 1989: soloshow at the 3rd Fukui International Video Biennale, [[Fukui Fine Arts Museum]], Fukui, Japan
* 1990: ''The Sleep of Reason,'' [[Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain]], [[Jouy-en-Josas]], France
* 1991: ''Video Projects,'' [[Museum für Moderne Kunst]], Frankfurt, Germany
* 1992–1994: ''Slowly Turning Narrative,'' exhibition touring US and Canada:
** 1992: [[Institute of Contemporary Art Pennsylvania]], Pennsylvania
** 1992: [[Virginia Museum of Fine Arts]], Richmond, Virginia
** 1993: [[Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal]], Canada
** 1993: [[Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art]], Indianapolis, Indiana
** 1994: [[Pérez Art Museum Miami|Center for the Fine Arts]], Miami, Florida
** 1994: [[Parrish Art Museum]], Southampton, New York
* 1992–1994: ''Bill Viola: Unseen Images / Nie gesehene Bilder / Images jamais vues'', [[Kunsthalle Düsseldorf]], touring exhibition:
** 1993: Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
** 1993: [[Museo Reina Sofía]], Madrid, Spain
** 1993: [[Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne|Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts]], Lausanne, Switzerland
** 1993: [[Whitechapel Art Gallery]], London, UK
** 1994: [[Tel Aviv Museum of Art]], Israel
* 1995: ''Bill Viola: Buried Secrets'', pavillon of the USA, 46. [[Venice Biennale]], Italy
* 1994: ''Stations,'' [[American Center for Art and Culture|American Center]], Paris, France
** 1995: [[Van Abbemuseum]], Eindhoven, Netherlands
** 1996: [[Lannan Foundation]], Los Angeles, California US
** 1996: Württembergischer Kunstverein, [[Stuttgart]], Germany
* 1997–2000: ''Bill Viola,'' touring retrospective of 25 years organised by the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], New York, US
** 1997: [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]], US
** 1998: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US
** 1998: [[Stedelijk Museum]], Amsterdam, Netherlands
** 1999: [[Museum für Moderne Kunst]], [[Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt|Schirn Kunsthalle]], Dominikanerkloster, [[Römer]] und [[Deutsche Börse]], [[Frankfurt am Main]], Germany
** 1999: [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], San Francisco, California US
** 1999–2000: [[Art Institute of Chicago]], Chicago, Illinois US
* 2001: ''Bill Viola: The Quintet of Remembrance'', the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bill Viola |url=https://localhost:5000/exhibitions/listings/2001/bill-viola |access-date=August 27, 2025 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref>
* 2002: ''Bill Viola: Going Forth by Day,'' [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]], New York, US
** [[Deutsche Guggenheim]], Berlin, Germany
* 2003/04: ''Bill Viola. The Passions'', [[Getty Museum]], Los Angeles, US
** [[National Gallery]], London, UK
<!--void of 10 years to fill-->
* 2014: ''Martyrs (Earth, Air Fire, Water)'', installation in [[St Paul's Cathedral]], London, UK
** 2016: complemented by ''Mary''
* 2017: ''Bill Viola. Rinascimento elettronico,''  [[Palazzo Strozzi]], Florence, Italy
* 2017: ''Bill Viola – Installationen'', [[Deichtorhallen]], Hamburg, Germany
* 2019: ''Bill Viola / Michelangelo. Life Death Rebirth'', [[Royal Academy of Arts]], London, UK
* 2019: ''I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like. The Art of Bill Viola,'' [[Barnes Foundation]], Philadelphia, US
* 2022: ''Bill Viola'', [[Museum der Moderne Salzburg]], Mönchsberg, Austria
* 2022: ''Bill Viola: Inner Journey,'' [[Amos Rex]], Helsinki, Finland
* 2023/24: ''Bill Viola. Sculptor of Time'', [[La Boverie]], Liège, Belgium
* 2018–2019: ''Bill Viola: Vía Mística'', [[Museo de Arte Abstracto Español]], the churches of San Miguel and San Andrés and Las Angélicas (the exhibition gallery of the José María Cruz Novillo School of Art), Cuenca<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bill Viola: Vía Mística {{!}} Fundación Juan March |url=https://www.march.es/en/exhibitions/bill-viola-mistica,%20https://www.march.es/en/exhibitions/bill-viola-mistica |access-date=December 10, 2025 |website=www.march.es |language=en}}</ref>

== Books ==
* Bill Viola and Robert Violette (1995). ''Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House: Writings 1973–1994''. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, {{Isbn|978-0-262-72025-0}}.
* Bill Viola (2002). ''Going Forth by Day''. Catalog, New York: [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation]], {{Isbn|9780892072552}}.

==Further reading==
* Marilyn Zeitlin (ed.): ''Bill Viola: Survey of a Decade.'' Catalog, [[Contemporary Arts Museum Houston]] 1988, ISBN 0-936080-18-3.
* Marie Luise Syring: ''Bill Viola: Unseen Images/Nie gesehene Bilder/Images jamais vues''. Catalog, [[Kunsthalle Düsseldorf]]. Meyer, Düsseldorf 1992, ISBN 3-9803398-1-5 (English/German/French).
* David A. Ross, [[Peter Sellars]] (eds.): ''Bill Viola.'' Catalog of the retrospective with contributions by [[Lewis Hyde]], Kira Perov, David A. Ross and Bill Viola. [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], New York, and Cantz, Ostfildern 1999, ISBN 3-89322-972-8.
* [[Rolf Lauter]] (ed.): ''Bill Viola: Europäische Einsichten|European Insights, Werkbetrachtungen|Reflections on the Work of Bill Viola.'' Additional book for the German station of the retrospective in [[Frankfurt]] with contributions by [[Jean-Christophe Ammann]], Verena Auffermann, [[Wulf Herzogenrath]], Rolf Lauter, Hans Ulrich Reck u.&nbsp;a. [[Museum für Moderne Kunst]], Frankfurt, and Prestel, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7913-2067-X (German/English).
* John Walsh ed. (2003). ''Bill Viola: The Passions''. Catalog, with Essays by Peter Sellars and John Walsh, a conversation between [[Hans Belting]] and Viola, sources and notes on the works by Viola, visual documentation by Kira Perov. Los Angeles: [[J. Paul Getty Museum]] in association with the [[National Gallery]], London, 978-0-89236-713-9
* Chris Townsend (ed.): ''The Art of Bill Viola.'' Contributions by Cynthia Freeland, Rhys Davies, David Kasper, David Morgan, Otto Neumaier a.&nbsp;o. Thames & Hudson, London 2004, ISBN 978-0-500-28472-8.
* Jérôme Neutres, Anne-Marie Duguet (2014). ''Bill Viola.'' Catalog, [[Grand Palais]], Galeries nationales, Paris, {{Isbn|978-2-7118-6166-8}} (French/English).
* [[Dirk Luckow]], Kira Perov (eds.): ''Bill Viola: Installations.'' Catalog, [[Deichtorhallen]], Hamburg. Snoeck, Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-86442-209-6 (German/English).
* Kira Perov (Hrsg.): ''Bill Viola. Love/Death. The Tristan Project.'' Mercatorfonds, Antwerp, Yale University Press, New Haven 2024, ISBN 978-0-300-27017-4.

== Documentaries ==
* [[Mark Kidel]]: ''Bill Viola: The Eye of the Heart,''  1h, [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]], UK, 2003.<ref>{{IMDb title|tt1075306|Bill Viola: The Eye of the Heart}}.</ref>
* [[Gerald Fox]]: ''Bill Viola: The Road to St Paul's,'' 1.85:1, 101 min, Foxy Films, UK/F/It/USA, 2005–2017.<ref>{{IMDb title|tt6097300|Bill Viola: The Road to St Paul's}}.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of video artists]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=grove>{{Cite encyclopedia |entry-url=http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000096533 |entry-url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T096533 |entry=Viola, Bill [ William ] |encyclopedia=Grove Art Online |year=2003 |last1=Arya |first1=Rina|title=Viola, Bill }}</ref>
}}

== Further reading ==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=Bill Viola}}
* Hanhardt, John G, Kira Perov, and Bill Viola. ''Bill Viola''. 2015. Print. {{Oclc|907140211}}.
* Hanhardt, John G, Thomas A. Carlson, and Kira Perov. ''I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like''. Philadelphia: The Barnes Foundation, 2019. Print. {{Oclc|1055265333}}.
* Rogers, Holly. [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twentieth-century-music/article/abs/acoustic-architecture-music-and-space-in-the-video-installations-of-bill-viola/53EEAB348ADB9994574A58A880B74769 "Acoustic Architecture: Music and Space in the Video Installations of Bill Viola"] {{subscription required}}. ''Twentieth Century Music'', (2005) 2(2), pp.&nbsp;197–219. {{ISSN|1478-5722}}.
* Ross, David A, Peter Sellars, and Lewis Hyde. ''Bill Viola''. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1997. Print. {{Oclc|37239009}}.
* Townsend, Chris, and Bill Viola. ''The Art of Bill Viola''. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004. Print. {{Oclc|55917902}}.

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb name|0899169}}
* {{Discogs artist|Bill Viola}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3VfWLlkuRI Bill Viola Interview: Cameras Are Keepers of the Souls]—Video by [[Louisiana Channel]]

{{Video art|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viola, Bill}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:American installation artists]]
[[Category:American people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:American video artists]]
[[Category:Artists from Queens, New York]]
[[Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in California]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Royal Academy]]
[[Category:MacArthur Fellows]]
[[Category:People from Westbury, New York]]
[[Category:20th-century American artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:21st-century American artists]]
[[Category:21st-century American male artists]]