Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House (Paperback)

Bill Viola

ISBN 10: 0262720256 / ISBN 13: 9780262720250

Published by MIT Press Ltd, Cambridge, Mass., 1995

About this Item

Paperback. Chosen to represent the United States at the 46th Venice Biennale, Bill Viola, a New York artist living on the West Coast, is recognized internationally for his work in video and sound installations. This book brings together a selection of essays, notebook entries, drawings, and descriptions of projects that map Viola's personal course through the readings, observations, experiments, and associations that form the groundwork for his art. Each work illustrated is accompanied by a description by the artist, as well as comments on the work's origins from the artist's notebooks.For the last 25 years, Viola has used innovative multimedia technologies to explore the phenomena of sense perception as a language of the body and avenue to self-knowledge, integrating many disciplines and philosophies to reveal contemporary art's relevance to the modern world. His views have deep roots in mysticism, poetry, philosophy, Eastern art, shamanism, Chinese Taoism, Sufism, and Zen Buddhism. Viola's chief concerns today are to draw attention to the upset ecological balance of nature by focusing on the connection between our inner and outer lives, on the conception of the self as part of the whole.Published in association with the Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London. A collection of essays, notebook entries, interviews, descriptions of projects, and b&w drawings, video stills, and photographs that together provide a sense of the renowned multimedia artist's work. Edited by Robert Violette in collaboration with the author, with an introduction by Jean-Christophe Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780262720250

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House (Paperback)
• Publisher: MIT Press Ltd, Cambridge, Mass.
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262720256
• ISBN 13: 9780262720250
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Chosen to represent the United States at the 46th Venice Biennale, Bill Viola, a New York artist living on the West Coast, is recognized internationally for his work in video and sound installations. This book brings together a selection of essays, notebook entries, drawings, and descriptions of projects that map Viola's personal course through the readings, observations, experiments, and associations that form the groundwork for his art. Each work illustrated is accompanied by a description by the artist, as well as comments on the work's origins from the artist's notebooks.

For the last 25 years, Viola has used innovative multimedia technologies to explore the phenomena of sense perception as a language of the body and avenue to self-knowledge, integrating many disciplines and philosophies to reveal contemporary art's relevance to the modern world. His views have deep roots in mysticism, poetry, philosophy, Eastern art, shamanism, Chinese Taoism, Sufism, and Zen Buddhism. Viola's chief concerns today are to draw attention to the upset ecological balance of nature by focusing on the connection between our inner and outer lives, on the conception of the self as part of the whole.

Published in association with the Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London.

About the Author

Robert Violette is a publisher and editor based in London.