The Fall into Paradise

Bill Viola, The Fall into Paradise, 2005, single-channel video installation, high-definition, color, sound; 09:58 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2012.56, © 2005, Bill Viola
Copied Bill Viola, The Fall into Paradise, 2005, single-channel video installation, high-definition, color, sound; 09:58 minutes, dimensions variable, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2012.56, © 2005, Bill Viola

Artwork Details

Title
The Fall into Paradise
Artist
Performers
Date
2005
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
dimensions variable
Copyright
© 2005, Bill Viola
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
single-channel video installation, high-definition, color, sound; 09:58 minutes
Classifications
Highlights
Object Number
2012.56
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2012.56

Artwork Description

Bill Viola explored themes of transformation and transcendence from emotional, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives. In The Fall into Paradise, a single pixel appears in the void, then slowly expands to reveal two figures entwined in an embrace. Just at the instant the figures become clear, they explode through the surface into a spectacular display of color and light. The performers' experience represents a moment of transcendental and spiritual breakthrough, tracing Viola's continuing search for consciousness and empirical knowledge through art.

Watch This!: Revelations in Media Art, 2015

Exhibitions

Media - 2012.56 - 2012.56_1a.jpg - 88539
Watch This! New Directions in the Art of the Moving Image (3.0)
April 30, 2013–February 15, 2015
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Watch This! New Directions in the Art of the Moving Image is a series of rotating exhibitions drawn from SAAM’s permanent collection.