The Tristan Project (2005)

"The Tristan Project" covers a series of video art installation pieces inspired by Richard Wagner's opera "Tristan und Isolde". These two legendary lovers experienced such depth of feeling that the material world became unbearable for them. Their love simply could no longer be contained in flesh and blood and their spirits drift into the void finally erupting into a new space. Many of Bill Viola's recent works visualize some kind of almost violent transformation or transition from material to spiritual form. The main works in "The Tristan Project" comprise The Fall into Paradise (2005), Fire Woman (2005), Tristan's Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall) (2005), Isolde's Ascension (The Shape of Light in the Space After Death) (2005), Passage into Night (2005), and some other images shot especially for this project by the artist.