American video art pioneer Bill Viola (73) has passed away

The primal elements of fire and water often recur in Bill Viola’s work. “Water can mean so many different things. We are mostly made of water. It gives life, but it can also bring death. Water reflects, refracts light. Bill sees water as ‘the space in between’. By visualizing it, we can perhaps understand something for which we have no words,” said Kira Perov.

As a 6-year-old child, Bill Viola fell into a lake. He was saved by an uncle. “I saw the most beautiful world ever there,” Viola said in an interview. “A colorful paradise with waving plants. I saw that real life is often below the surface.”