BILL VIOLA - The Chapel of Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures, at Blain Southern
These Bill Viola video pieces at Blain Southern were sublime. The Chapel of Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures (2013), from which the exhibition derives its name, incorporates a grid of nine horizontal screens that depict figures perpetually repeating various activities. Presented in real time, we witness a man pulling a cart up a hill, only to let it roll back down again as soon as he reaches the top -- a palpable reference to Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, a philosophical essay based on the Greek myth, which calls into question the significance of our daily accomplishments. In another screen, we observe a man continuously digging and refilling a hole in the ground at night. The central panel shows a glass bowl being filled with water from a jug, which slowly seeps out through a crack in the glass until it has emptied -- at which point the bowl is then refilled. Every action is repeated in ritualistic fashion, gradually and purposefully, rendering each unsuccessful endeavour all the more poignant. http://www.blainsouthern.com/exhibitions/2013/bill-viola-frustrated-actions-and-futile-gestures
These Bill Viola video pieces at Blain Southern were sublime. The Chapel of Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures (2013), from which the exhibition derives its name, incorporates a grid of nine horizontal screens that depict figures perpetually repeating various activities. Presented in real time, we witness a man pulling a cart up a hill, only to let it roll back down again as soon as he reaches the top -- a palpable reference to Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, a philosophical essay based on the Greek myth, which calls into question the significance of our daily accomplishments. In another screen, we observe a man continuously digging and refilling a hole in the ground at night. The central panel shows a glass bowl being filled with water from a jug, which slowly seeps out through a crack in the glass until it has emptied -- at which point the bowl is then refilled. Every action is repeated in ritualistic fashion, gradually and purposefully, rendering each unsuccessful endeavour all the more poignant. http://www.blainsouthern.com/exhibitions/2013/bill-viola-frustrated-actions-and-futile-gestures