Open online interview with the curator of the exhibition “Bill Viola. Journey of the Soul”

A recording of an open online interview with the curator of the exhibition “Bill Viola. Journey of the Soul” presented.

Kira Perov is Executive Director of Bill Viola Studio. She has been working closely with Bill Viola since 1979, managing, creatively guiding and more recently collaborating on the production of his video works and installations. She edits all Bill Viola publications, selecting materials from an extensive archive and collaborating with a wide variety of museums around the world. She also curates, organizes and coordinates exhibitions of the work worldwide. Together with Bill Viola they have explored cultures from Japan to Tunisia, where they collected elements of the artist’s image system. For decades, they have been experimenting with technologies and methods of influencing a viewer's perception.

In this open interview, Kira Perov gives the audience keys to understanding images of Bill Viola’s works. She speaks about the hidden world behind the camera lens, a dialogue the pieces create with space — from a grand opera scene to St Paul’s Cathedral in London, — and filming in the Sahara Desert and returning to the desert almost 35 years later. Kira reveals the secret of the difference between mirages created by nature and video camera, and the moment when video becomes art.

The first solo exhibition of Bill Viola in Russia, supported by VTB Bank, general sponsor of the Museum, was opened at The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts on March 2, 2021. The exhibition is on display until May 30, 2021.

Following the interview, there will be a Q&A-session via ZOOM.

The discussion will be held in English with simultaneous translation into Russian.

Moderator: project producer Alina Stulikova.