DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, 451 Rue Saint Jean, Montréal, QC H2Y 2R5

  • Still from Ascension 4
    Artist : Bill Viola
    Title : Still from Ascension 4
    Date(s) : 2000
    Material : Color video projection; stereo sound
    Credit : Performer: Josh Coxx Photo: Kira Perov. Courtesy of Bill Viola Studio
  • Still from The Return
    Artist : Bill Viola
    Title : Still from The Return
    Date(s) : 2007
    Material : Color high-definition video on flat panel display; stereo sound
    Credit : Performer: Weba Garretson Giverny Capital Collection, Montreal
  • Still from The Encounter
    Artist : Bill Viola
    Title : Still from The Encounter
    Date(s) : 2012
    Material : Color high-definition video on flat panel display
    Credit : Performers: Genevieve Anderson, Joan Chodorow Courtesy of Bill Viola Studio
  • Still from Inverted Birth
    Artist : Bill Viola
    Title : Still from Inverted Birth
    Date(s) : 2014
    Material : Color high-definition video projection on screen; stereo sound; 8min 22 sec
    Credit : Performer: Norman Scott. Photograph: Kira Perov. Courtesy of Bill Viola Studio

From the Press Release

As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art is pleased to present a new solo exhibition, Bill Viola: Naissance à rebours.

Bill Viola is recognized as a pioneer in video art, with a career spanning over forty years. His work across single channel video, video installation, sound environments, electronic music performances, and broadcast television deeply examines the universal themes of life, death, the unfolding of consciousness, the spirit, and the human condition. The presentation at DHC/ART brings together four flat panel video works, The Return (2007), Ancestors (2012), Walking on the Edge (2012), and The Encounter (2012), as well as the projection work Ascension (2000). Making its Canadian debut is his most recent major installation, Inverted Birth (2014). This monumental projection depicts the five stages of awakening through a series of violent transformations, exploring the very nature of our existence: life, death, birth, and rebirth. “Birth is not a beginning, death is not an end,” as Viola has remarked, quoting from the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu (370–287 BC).

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