Browse the reactions of other viewers to Viola's work below.

These reactions were submitted to this site between January 17 and April 28, 2003. The site is now closed to new reactions.

The opinions presented here may have been edited and do not reflect the opinions of the Getty.

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Why did he choose to explore 'real' emotions, passions...with actors? Why not use real situations, people, etc.? Maybe real life emotion is not interesting enough. Seems to be a trend these days to censor or filter emotions and life. Was this a choice to mock the human condition? If so, good job. Other than that, he had some nice gear to work with—I guess......

Flat...screens and all...Passionless passion.

Viola often discusses the complex issues raised by working with actors. In his notebook he asks the question, "How deep into the emotion must the actors go?...Is emotion recordable? Where does visual perception stop and emotion begin?"

He discussed this issue in a conversation with Hans Belting:

"The actors unlocked the hidden world of their private innermost emotional lives and invited me in...The depth and reality of this world [of acting] startled me. It completely overturned my preconceptions of acting, which I had always classified in the domain of artificiality—the world of theatricality, of conscious public presentation, emulation, and simulation. But here were these very real emotions, coming from the residual effects of real experiences within the person."

Bill Viola, from the exhibition catalogue, Bill Viola: The Passions

I am completely shocked by the positive response to Viola's The Passions. This was the most shallow and superficial exhibit I have ever seen. It was devoid of true emotion and passion. I felt like I was in an actor's sensory workshop. How can the population be so moved by such pompous interpretations of suffering? I can't believe Viola thinks his show holds any real fire or truth after his own personal tragedy. How could his friends let him get away with this? He should have gone in the trenches and captured real pain, maybe even filmed himself. But to do that, denial has to be overcome and raw emotion faced head-on.

I was very skeptical about this exhibit, thinking it would be like music videos on MTV. Besides Mr. Viola's technique having nothing to do with the quick cuts of jerky filmmaking, his conceptions and settings are fascinating, moving, and evocative. In an age of "faster, faster, faster," it's a bit of a revelation to be transfixed for minutes at a time. This is most definitely art in its highest form. Modern technology to be sure, but used for beauty and emotion rather than promotion and propaganda. Congratulations!

It's incredible! I was just fascinated by it. This is a work of art I must see over and over again.

I saw The Quintet of the Astonished in NYC at the Met. It was one of the most memorable pieces due to its medium and execution. I didn't grasp its art-historical contexts and statement, but I did find it an interesting study in voyeurism...standing in a room with a couple of strangers, watching other strangers slowly emote.

I was just amazed. It was like looking at a painting and after a few seconds trying to understand if it is your imagination responsible for making it move. It was just incredible, like in a dream...I almost cried with the emotion put into it...

I have to say, this has to be the most pretentious attempt at "art" I've witnessed in a long while. Cinema holds many possibilities for visually exploring the human condition, and, amazingly, Mr. Viola does none of this. How you can all fall for this is beyond my understanding. The Emperor has no clothes!

This artwork is something new to me. When I first visited the exhibition I wasn't expecting anything so brilliant. I was frozen with amazement and sweating with inspiration at the same time. It drew out of me my own emotions and passions. That feeling will never be forgotten.

Having been shown much of Bill Viola's past works, I want to add that again, he's really pushing the field of experimental video art to the edges of technology for all of us.

The idea of time unfolding while the viewer (camera) remains still, suggests a substitution of viewer for camera, or an identification of the two. But this is not the case. Because of the slow tempo of the action, the painting does not "come alive." Instead, the figures (actors) become less alive and take on the quality of moving statues. In this way, the video, as it progresses, more closely resembles dreams or mental constructions rather than any kind of perceived reality. The viewer doesn't assume the role of the camera "eye" but appears to recall and relive an action completed in the past and replayed in memory. Time in the video becomes memory and this personalizes what appears at first to be a generic or historical event.

This was my first encounter with Bill Viola's works. I think he captured very precisely the spirit of the old iconoclastic portraits, prints, and illuminations from the Renaissance and medieval periods. But the use of live-action and video/film takes what he's captured and contextualizes it in a very contemporary mode. I was very surprised and moved by the sparseness of the physical images (i.e. the sets, the clothing of the actors, etc.), contrasted by the intense emotion—particularly melancholy, sadness, grief, and angst—exuding from the actors' faces. It is a very effective way of isolating and examining such raw human emotion. I will definitely be back for a second (or even third) viewing.

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