In addition to the opening of the new Bluemner exhibition: Oscar Bluemner’s Germany: Juxtaposing Jerichow, Stetson University’s Hand Art Center will also feature a videotape collection by artist Bill Viola, also opening Friday, Jan. 25, with a reception from 6-8 p.m. The Viola exhibition will remain open through March 19, 2013. The screening schedule is: Monday through Friday 11 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:45 p.m. 

Viola’s videotape collection, The Reflecting Pool – Collected Work 1977-80, features color, stereo sound, 62:00 minutes total. It includes the following:

The Reflecting Pool. Color, mono sound; 7:00 minutes

Moonblood. Color, stereo sound; 12:48 minutes

Silent Life. Color,stereo sound; 13:14 minutes

Ancient of Days. Color, stereo sound; 12:21 minutes

Vegetable Memory. Color, mono sound; 15:13 minutes. 

The Reflecting Pool – Collected Work is a collection of five independent works composed to function as a whole. Each uses varying styles and techniques to advance the theme of the collection:  the progressive stages of the personal journey from birth to death, described through images of transition – from day to night, object to reflection, motion to stillness, time to timelessness.

Artist Bill Viola (b.1951) is internationally recognized as one of today’s leading artists and has been instrumental in the establishment of video as a vital form of contemporary art. 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. (With permission of: BILL VIOLA STUDIO LLC and Electronic Arts Intermix, New York.)

The public is invited. Hand Art Center at Stetson University is located at 139 E. Michigan Ave., DeLand. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Closed weekends and university holidays. For more information and driving directions, please visit the Hand Art Center’s website: http://www2.stetson.edu/handartcenter/, or call (386) 822-7270.