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Bill Viola «He Weeps for You»
Bill Viola, «He Weeps for You», 1976
1979 | Photography | Photograph: Shigeo Anzai | © Bill Viola
Kira Perov photographing Viola in a drop of water in preparation for the installation of «He Weeps for You,» Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1979.


 
Bill Viola «He Weeps for You»Bill Viola «He Weeps for You»
United States | 3.7*11*7.9 m (W*H*D) | video/sound installation, waterdrop from copper pipe, live colour camera with macro lens, amplified drum, video projection in dark room | Archive / Collection: Kramlich Collection, San Francisco | video installation
 

 Bill Viola
«He Weeps for You»

One of the first video installations by Bill Viola, closely related to his videotape productions of the 1970s. A drop of water emerging from a small brass valve is magnified by a video camera and projected on a large screen. The close-up image reveals that the viewer and part of the room where they stand are visible inside each forming drop. The drop swells and shudders as it reaches surface tension, finally falling and creating a loud resonant sound as it lands on an amplified drum below. A new drop immediately begins forming and the cycle continues in infinite repetition.