Bill Viola

Transfiguration Series

Three videos from Bill Viola’s Transfiguration Series are presented in a Grade I listed 18th-century tidal mill. Within the videos, apparitions slowly emerge from complete darkness and move towards us. As we begin to decipher their shapes they move through an imperceptible wall of water – emerging into the earthly realm, where they reveal their incarnate forms in high definition. The bodies move from obscurity to clarity – from death to life – and back again. Viola captures the figures contemplating their journey between two realms and in the process urges us to confront the significant questions about our existence, through subtle metamorphoses. The House Mill was originally built in 1776, on an existing pre-Domesday site it is the largest existing tidal mill in the world.