Kira Perov: “Through his work, Bill explored the profound mysteries of life”

Exhibition Artculture Kira Perov: “Through his work, Bill explored the profound mysteries of life” Kira Perov Viola 1024x683 Relevant News Kira Perov: “Through his work, Bill explored the profound mysteries of life” 10 September 2026 Clinic where Mazonakis was treated before death not licensed for procedure, medical bodies say 10 September 2026 At least 20 killed in cargo vessel fire at China shipyard, state media reports 10 September 2026 Christina Skordi 10 September 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber The wife and long-time collaborator of video art pioneer Bill Viola reflects on five decades of shared life and creative partnership, on the occasion of the artist’s exhibition at PSI Foundation.Many people know Bill Viola as the creator of these remarkable works, but far fewer are aware of how closely the two of you collaborated for nearly five decades. In 1977, together with a colleague at La Trobe University in Melbourne, I organised a video exhibition. My colleague already knew Bill and his work, so we invited him to Australia to present his videotapes. That was how we first met. A year later, I moved to New York to live with him and began assisting with the production of his work. The ideas always came from Bill. We travelled extensively to record the projects he had conceived, while I documented the entire process through photography. Gradually, I began to understand his way of working. We continued to travel widely and spent eighteen months living in Japan before returning to the United States and settling in Long Beach, California. After working for almost two years at the Long Beach Museum of Art, I decided to devote myself entirely to collaborating with Bill. Over the years, I took responsibility for much of the administrative and organisational side of our practice, from coordinating exhibitions and editing publications to photographing the artworks and assisting with production during shooting. When Bill began working with actors, I became involved in casting, costume selection, fundraising, and managing production budgets and payments. After 10 years of living and working together, we decided to have children. Our two boys were an extra time commitment, especially for me, but somehow, we made it work. Bill Viola and Kira Perov during a night photo shoot in the pool for Tristan and Isolde, Long Beach, California, 21 July 2004. Photo: Bill Viola Studio How did Bill develop his ideas, and at what point did your own collaboration begin? Bill would often spend long periods working alone in his study or retreat somewhere for a few days in order to develop his ideas. Once he felt they had taken shape, we would discuss them together and decide which projects should move into production. When we started working with film crews in Hollywood, there were occasions when I noticed that certain scenes were drifting away from Bill’s original vision. I felt it was important to protect the essence of his ideas. We were collaborating with highly creative professionals who naturally brought their own perspectives to the production, and sometimes Bill would be persuaded to move in a different direction. My role was often to help keep the work aligned with his original intention. In later years, our relationship evolved into a genuine creative partnership. My own contribution and ideas became an essential part of the production, direction and editing of works such as Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) (2014) and Mary (2016), both permanently installed at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, as well as Crossroads (2014), a large-scale permanent installation at Hamad International Airport in Doha. Is there one particular moment that, for you, best captures who Bill Viola was as a person? I always loved listening to Bill’s lectures and conversations with students. He shared his thoughts on creativity, on inspiration, on consciousness, on the profound mysteries of life, on humanity, on hope. He encouraged young artists to look inward, to understand who they were and why they wanted to become artists, to recognise the importance of their role, to see, and depict, the world with clarity and honesty, and to never be afraid to tackle the larger themes of life. Every art student should read the book we created in 1995, edited by Robert Violette, Bill Viola: Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House (Writings 1973–1994), published by MIT Press. It is a collection of Bill’s writings and reflections, all still relevant today. Kira Perov and Bill Viola in their studio in Signal Hill, California, 17 September 2010. Photo: Bill Viola Studio Is there a work by Bill that you see differently today than when it was first created? It is not often that I look at the early videotapes. We stopped producing them in 1994, when our focus shifted increasingly towards installations and exhibitions. During the first decade of his career, Bill mostly created shorter videotapes or collections of several individual pieces. Between 1981 and 1994, however, he also produced a number of longer works. One of the most significant is I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like (1986), an 89-minute work that took almost three years to complete while several other projects were underway. Bill described it as “a personal investigation of the inner states and connections to animal consciousness we all carry within.” When I see it now I am even more impressed by the way all of its elements came together -from the extraordinary locations we travelled to, to the extensive shot lists Bill prepared before we began each shoot. We recorded in Tokyo, at the San Diego Zoo, in South Dakota, Fiji, a glacial lake in Banff, Canada, and in our own home in Long Beach, which we had transformed into a studio. Now, forty years after it was made, every section of the work carries an even deeper personal meaning for me. In an age when images are consumed in a matter of seconds, do you think Bill Viola’s work has become even more relevant? Images – and moving images in particular – are now everywhere. We live in a world shaped by social media, streaming platforms, 24-hour news cycles and, increasingly, the artificial realities generated by AI. We are losing our ability to distinguish, to question, and to think critically. We are already reaching the point where we can no longer judge if an image is real. Anyone who experiences a Bill Viola exhibition quickly realises that he used the moving image to deepen the understanding of human existence. By slowing images down, he reveals the subject’s inner life. It is clear that nothing in his work is artificially constructed. There are no CGI effects and no post-production visual manipulation. What you see is real. Do you think viewers need to be familiar with the philosophical, religious and mystical references in Bill Viola’s work, or is their own personal experience enough? There are usually very few explanatory texts accompanying the works. Every viewer approaches them through their own experiences, beliefs and understanding of the world. This closes the gap between the work and the viewer. Of course, a deeper reading of Bill’s work – and of Bill himself – can emerge through a greater understanding of the ideas that informed his practice, whether from an exhibition guide or a catalogue. But that knowledge is by no means essential in order to connect with the work. Most of those philosophical or spiritual references are not explicitly visible within the works themselves. They were sources of inspiration that helped Bill connect with an idea and with his own inner search. What, in your view, allows Bill Viola’s work to transcend cultural boundaries and speak to audiences on such a universal level? Bill made very little use of language in his work, which makes it immediately accessible to audiences around the world. His work has been presented throughout Europe and the United Kingdom, as well as in Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Russia, Poland and Kazakhstan. Wherever it is shown, people inevitably respond to it through the lens of their own culture, traditions and personal experiences. Yet the fundamental themes remain universal: human emotion, the passage of time, the cycle of life, death and rebirth, and the continuous flow of existence itself. Bill Viola, Inverted Birth, 2014, installed at PSI Since Bill’s passing, how do you see your role as the steward of his artistic legacy? My work today is dedicated to preserving Bill’s artistic legacy by continuing our extensive exhibition program, collaborating with art institutions worldwide, and documenting and organising the extraordinary body of material he left behind. Together with my small team, we are compiling the complete catalogue of his works, digitizingall of the master video materials of each work in collaboration with the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, and cataloguing his journals, notebooks and drawings. These are large-scale, long-term projects, but they are essential if future generations are to fully understand the breadth of Bill’s practice. Additional support for this work would certainly be invaluable. You have seen Bill Viola’s work presented in museums and cultural institutions around the world. What does Cyprus offer as a context for experiencing his work? The living, moving images of video installations are always in dialogue with the spaces they inhabit. When those spaces possess a distinctive architectural character – as is the case with PSI Foundation, where the walls themselves bear the visible traces of history – a unique relationship develops between the artworks and the building. What is outside these walls, the history of the region, the landscape, the sea, has also entered the building, creating a rich interaction and resonance of elements, that in turn enrich the experience of the viewer. And, of course, every visitor brings their own identity and personal history with them, transforming each encounter with the work into something deeply individual and personal. Are there works in this particular exhibition that have taken on a new or different dimension in Cyprus? Every work Bill created has its own intended scale, but occasionally adjustments need to be made in order to establish a meaningful dialogue with a particular architectural space. Inverted Birth (2014),the first work visitors encounter in the exhibition, is normally five metres high. Here, however, we installed it on a screen measuring seven and a half metres in height in order to respond to the exceptional scale of the building itself. This approach acknowledges the architecture, allowing the work to inhabit the space naturally and harmoniously. The meaning of the work does not change because it is presented inside this vast former warehouse. Our experience of it is somehow different since the work is now a part of the fabric and history of this building. Adding to this experience is the sound from Inverted Birth that reverberates in the space, created by its unusual shape. It seems that this is where it was recorded. Master technician and sound artist, Ludger Hennig from 235 Media, was able to “tune” it to the vast interior. In a work titled Anima (2001) time has almost stood still, slowed down, like the archaeological objects such as steles found on Cyprus. In Unspoken (Silver & Gold,) 2001, the ravages of archeological time – weathering, corrosion, deterioration – are visible. For the remaining works, Bobby Jablonski, Exhibition Design Director at Bill Viola Studio, designed a carefully considered architectural environment within the space itself. This allowed each work to be protected from both natural light and the sound generated by Inverted Birth, while creating a distinctive journey through the exhibition in which each installation unfolds gradually before the visitor. Bill Viola, Unspoken, 2001. Photo: Peter Mallet The exhibition has now been extended and will reopen in September, giving a new audience the opportunity to experience Bill Viola’s work in Cyprus. Will you be returning to see it for yourself? I am delighted that PSI Foundation has decided to extend the exhibition, and I am especially grateful to the curator, Dimitri Ozerkov, for inviting me to visit Limassol in early October, when I will also be giving a public lecture. Dimitri’s clear and unwavering vision for this exhibition has been truly inspiring. From the very beginning, he understood how Bill’s work could enter into a meaningful dialogue with this extraordinary building and its unique history. I am very much looking forward to experiencing the exhibition in person, seeing how the works inhabit this remarkable space, and exploring the archaeological sites that bear witness to the rich and layered history of this strategically important island. Kira Perov and Bill Viola, inauguration of Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) at St Paul’s Cathedral, London. Photo: Andrei Viola INFO Bill Viola: Unspoken PSI Foundation, Limassol The exhibition reopens on Thursday, 10 September. Opening Hours Thursday & Friday: 17:00 – 22:00 Saturday: 11:00 – 14:00 & 17:00 – 22:00 Further Informationpsi.art Kira Perov Lecture Kira Perov will give a public lecture on Sunday, 4 October, at 18:30. Venue: Tasos Papadopoulos Building, Cyprus University of Technology (CUT/TEPAK), Limassol. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Clinic where Mazonakis was treated before death not licensed for procedure, medical bodies say At least 20 killed in cargo vessel fire at China shipyard, state media reports Europe seeks greater strategic independence from China EU proposes major overhaul of public procurement rules New Cyprus scheme lets families build extra homes up to 180 square metres Overnight pharmacies on Thursday, September 10 Education Ministry dismisses Cyprus textbook shortage claims as “exaggerated” Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.