If your in San Francisco, go to the Zen Center to celebrate 50 years of wisdom and compassion. Both a spiritual center and supporter of the arts, Zen Center brings us a program that presents a performance by Bill Viola, “Transformation from Within”. Look below for details and ticket information.
Bill Viola (b.1951) is internationally recognized as one of today’s leading artists. He has been instrumental in the establishment of video as a vital form of contemporary art: For 40 years he has created videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic music performances, flat panel video pieces, and works for television broadcast. Viola’s video installations—total environments that envelop the viewer in image and sound—employ state-of-the-art technologies and are distinguished by their precision and direct simplicity. Viola uses video to explore the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self-knowledge. His works focus on universal human experiences—birth, death, the unfolding of consciousness—and have roots in both Eastern and Western art as well as spiritual traditions, including Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and Christian mysticism. Using the inner language of subjective thoughts and collective memories, his videos communicate to a wide audience, allowing viewers to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way.
BILL VIOLA, “Visitation” (video still), 2008. Photo: Kira Perov.
The title of the series, “Transfigurations” (that includes Three Women and Visitation pictured here) refers to a rare process whereby both the substance and essence of an entity is reconfigured. In physical terms, a transfiguration is a change in form, a remodeling of appearance. The word derives from the ancient Greek ‘metemorphothe,’ or ‘metamorphosis,’ suggesting a complete reformation. However, the word takes on its fullest meaning in the spiritual context when it refers to the moment when a person or an object is transformed not by external means but from within. The resulting change is absolute and thorough, affecting the heart and soul of the subject. Although the outward appearance can sometimes be altered in this process as well, it is not necessary. A deeper, more profound, complete transformation occurs inside, out of sight and, for a person it reformulates the very fiber of their being, finally radiating outward to affect everything around it.
Excerpt from the article by Bill Viola, “The Transfigurations Series” first published in Bill Viola: Transfigurations, Seoul: Kukje Gallery, 2008.
Friday, November 9, 2012 7:30pm
First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco
1187 Franklin Street (between Geary and O’Farrell)
$50 – General Admission
$35 – Current SFZC Member*
$125 – Special Seating and Reception with Bill Viola following event – SOLD OUT
For information on ticketing, call: 888-743-9362 (toll free) or 415-475-9362
* Questions about Membership? Call 415-354-0355 or email: membership@sfzc.org.
