To complement the PROJECTIONS exhibition, the AGA is proud to be able to present two important video works by two of the world’s most significant contemporary artists. The AGA is grateful to the Pamela and Richard Kramlich Collection and New Art Trust for their generosity in lending these works for exhibition.

BILL VIOLA: The Reflecting Pool

American artist Bill Viola has been creating videotapes, video installations, sound environments and works for broadcast since 1972, and is now internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading contemporary artists. Viola was instrumental in the establishment of video as a vital form of artistic creation, and has greatly expanded its scope in terms of technology, content and historical reach. His works are represented in museum collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and the Tate in London. Viola has also received numerous honors including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Award and a Getty Research Institute Scholar-in-Residence award, and represented the United States in the 46th Venice Biennale in 1995.

In The Reflecting Pool (1977-1979) Viola uses the reflective surface of a pool of water as a device for perceiving the world. In it, one sees the image of a man emerging from a forest, stopping in front of the body of water. The man jumps and time stops. He hangs unmoving suspended in the air above the water, his image slowing dissolving into forest background. Minutes later, he emerges from the pool of water—in which he never fell—departing back into the trees.

Bill Viola
The Reflecting Pool, 1977-79
Videotape, color, mono sound; 7 minutes
Photo: Kira Perov

BRUCE NAUMAN: Raw Material OK OK OK

Bruce Nauman is also one of the most influential artists of our time. His exploration of different media—sculpture, performance, installation, film, video, photography and neon—reflects a continual questioning and re-invention of his artistic practice. In the 1960s Nauman was one of the pioneers of video art, making a series of ground-breaking videos in which he filmed himself in his studio performing various simple, often absurd, tasks. In subsequent videos he has used actors to repeat written texts, with nuanced variations, revealing the ambiguities and dead-ends of language.

In this work, images of the artist's face are shown on two TV monitors, with a similar image of his revolving head projected onto an adjacent wall. Throughout the work, Nauman intones the words `OK, OK, OK' in ceaseless repetition. While language has always been an important part of his artistic practice, in this work the viewer is subjected to an intense barrage of both electronic image and sound that are endlessly and infinitely repeated. Using only this short, percussive, single-syllable text, Nauman is able to create an overwhelming sensory experience that is at once absurd but deeply menacing.