Up and Running: The Bill Viola Exhibition

Bill Viola is an American contemporary artist who creates video architectural installations. His works focus on universal human experiences

The other day I set off expecting nothing more from my mundane run than a struggling, huffing forty minutes of hell with no respite save for the occasional, fluro wearing fifty year old or disobedient, toilet going dog. Yet, half an hour later I found myself within a Catholic church staring at a floor (or alter) to ceiling length LCD featuring a hooded woman emerging from a blazing wall of fire.

So as I was running past St Carthages Catholic Church on Royal Parade I noticed a huge sign reading Bill Viola Fire Woman and Tristan Ascension but what really caught my attention was ‘Free Admission’ as I almost exclusively attend such things.

Now, given my running kit is not comprised of skinny jeans, worldly looking shoes and an ironic flanno the hipster at the entrance of the exhibition somewhat reluctantly gave me a flyer and let me in. That’s how I came to be at the strange second part of the aforementioned juxtaposition.

Bill Viola is an American contemporary artist who creates video architectural installations. His works focus on universal human experiences – birth, death and the unfolding of consciousness, or so the flyer says.  He uses state-of-the-art equipment to exhibit his ultra slow motion videos complemented by blanketing audio.

Sitting among around thirty people I questioned if they were indeed pretentious posers just as I’m sure they thought I was a rebel exerciser in hiding from her personal trainer. Whatever people’s reasons, the work was excellently exhibited, true to Viola’s aesthetic and makes for a wonderful exercise procrastinator.

From now on however I feel I will stick to the vacuous safety of the gym, where the only questions and doubts raised are skin deep.