ABSTRACT
In this article, we propose an interpretative analysis of selected works by the American artist Bill Viola (b. 1951), aiming at the characterization of time images that have a political dimension resistant to rapid obsolescence and late capitalism. Especially, we seek to show that, through his works, Viola evokes anguish in the face of finitude; therefore, his time images query us towards the nothingness of existence. Following this interpretative line, we propose an approximation of his poetics to aspects of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, mainly the concept of “being-toward-death”, and of Keiji Nishitani, with the notion of “field of emptiness”, as well as mobilize some considerations from Gilles Deleuze, Shuichi Kato, John Hanhardt, and Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis.
Bill Viola; Martin Heidegger; Keiji Nishitani; Finitude; Nothingness