The internationally renowned contemporary video artist Bill Viola is the subject of a major solo exhibition titled Bill Viola. Mirrors of the Unseen at Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Madrid, Spain, through January 10, 2021. Kira Perov, Viola’s wife and the Executive Director of Bill Viola Studio, curated the extensive presentation which encompasses over 20 major works created over the past four decades. Viola is widely known to explore fundamental and existential themes by portraying the sublime in universal human experiences including birth, life, and death through video. Utilizing his signature slow-motion technique, Viola allows viewers to witness the action and the expression of emotions on the faces of the actors in detail, revealing the collapse of consciousness.  

Upon entering the exhibition located across the fourth floor of the foundation, visitors encounter one of Viola’s early works created in the 1970s titled The Reflecting Pool (1977-1979). Viola reconstructs viewers’ concepts of time and memory by displaying surrealistic images, unaffected by time, reflected on the pond. The 4-channel large-scale video titled Martyrs (2014), commissioned by St. Paul’s Cathedral, UK,–– exemplifies the human endurance to bear pain and hardship in order to uphold their values, beliefs, and principles. Here, adversity is represented by natural elements such as earth, wind, water, and fire. Additional works include Walking on the Edge (2012), which signifies the detachment between father and son, followed by Self Portrait, Submerged (2013), and Ablutions (2015) which encourage viewers to explore the existent yet imperceptible dimensions of the world.