Bill Viola: Family Talking Points

Bill Viola Family Talking Points

Yorkshire Sculpture Park ysp.co.uk

Bill Viola is an American artist who makes art using video. He grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, a time of exciting changes in technology.

Bill explores all the possibilities of this new technology. People are at the heart of all of Bill’s work. He uses colour, movement, sound, fire, water and light to capture ideas that we can’t always see or touch.

Bill thinks about ideas around life, death, emotions and spirituality.

Choose one of Bill’s videos in the gallery.

What might the people in them be feeling? How do they make you feel?

Do you make film of family moments?

What events in your life have changed you?

Moving house or school?

Do you like watching films about yourself?

How do you think you might feel about these films in the future?

Has someone you loved died?

Has someone come to live with you?

Or has a baby been born?

Experiment and play with making your own video – try to make people walk backwards or really slowly.

How can you tell what people might be thinking without them saying a word?

Do you feel the same all the time?

Think about different feelings you have.

Do you need to understand sadness to understand happiness?

Have you ever stood in the rain?

Next time it rains go outside and look at the sky.

What do you notice? How do you feel?

Do you like being in water and swimming?

How is it different – is it like another world?

As a boy, Bill had a life-changing experience when he fell into a lake. He was lucky to survive.

Under the water he discovered a magical world: he saw shafts of light, wonderful colours, plants and fish. This experience later inspired him to use water in his films to try to capture and share his childhood memory of a different world.

Draw your own underwater world at home.

OPPOSITES

As a family see how many different feelings you can name.

For each feeling can you think of its opposite feeling?

Love

Much of Bill Viola’s work deals with dualities or opposites, such as:

Ex cit ed

y Jo

Feelings Sad

Ha

AT HOME When you have seen the exhibition, play opposites. One person says one word, then the other thinks of its opposite.

r Fea

ppy

py Grum

OUTSIDE Outside at YSP, play a game by trying to describe your feelings likes a weather report.

In the park there are lots of sculptures that can help you think about your emotions.

As you discover sculptures see what facts you can find. Discuss how the sculptures make you feel.

I feel a bit cloudy today but I can feel the sun trying to shine though

Sculpture facts

It makes us feel

It’s raining hard today but I am sheltered from it

Sculpture facts

It makes us feel

Sculpture facts

It makes us feel

Take a walk through the Country Park to the Chapel

Feel the ground beneath your feet

Enjoy the journey

The weather on your skin The smell in the air

Shhh !

AT HOME When you go home, sit in your room and shut your eyes. How long can you sit and be quiet for?

What comes to your mind when you sit quiet? Can you see images on the back of your eyelids?

h!

Shh

The sounds all around The Chapel is a place to relax and watch Bill’s work. It’s not a space for running or making noise.