In October 2015, Bill Viola opens three exhibitions featuring recent and early career works in the UK. On 10 October, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park opens an extensive exhibition of works by the artist, while displays of significant early-career sound and installation works will be presented at Blain|Southern and The Vinyl Factory’s Brewer Street Car Park in London during Frieze Week from 13 October.
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park brings together the largest body of work shown by the artist in the UK in a decade. In the Underground Gallery, eight works will be displayed. The works collectively represent Viola’s ongoing examination of the transitional, indefinable nature of human life. The exhibition includes a new work, The Trial (2015), which depicts “five stages of awakening through a series of violent transformations.” In the Chapel, two works Fire Woman and Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall) (both 2005), originally created as part of theatre director Peter Sellars’ production of Tristan und Isolde will be displayed and explore the theme of passion under duress. For the exhibition, the artist releases a rare limited edition lithograph print and launches an illustrated monograph published by Thames & Hudson.
In London, Blain|Southern and The Vinyl Factory present two parallel exhibitions of Viola’s early works. Moving Stillness (Mt Rainier), 1979 will be displayed at Blain|Southern in Mayfair. The work, which takes the form of a multimedia installation, has been exhibited only once before, during its inaugural showing in 1979.
Simultaneously, Blain|Southern partners with The Vinyl Factory presents The Talking Drum, an immersive installation featuring two sound works by Viola in the Brewer Street Car Park in Soho. A limited edition run of vinyl recordings of performances by the artist will be presented alongside the show.
Sedition is offering two digital editions by Bill Viola in the gift shop of Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Blain|Southern for the duration of the shows. The works include A Phrase From “Chris” (2011) and A Phrase From “Illumination” (2011).
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Bill Viola’s exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, WF4 4LG is on from 10 October 2015 - 10 April 2016.
Moving Stillness (Mt Rainier), 1979 is on from 13 October to 21 November 2015 at Blain|Southern, 4 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1BP.
The Talking Drum is on from 13 October - 7 November 2015 at The Vinyl Factory, Brewer Street Car Park, W1F 0LA.
