news

Bill Viola, Anthem, 1983, single-channel video, colour, sound, 11’30” (courtesy of Bill Viola Studio)

On the occasion of the 21st edition of the Contemporary Art Day AMACI, the major event organised annually by the Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums to promote contemporary culture, with the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Directorate-General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Trieste Contemporanea will host a conversation on 4 October at 6 pm at Studio Tommaseo (Via del Monte 2/1, Trieste) with Valentina Valentini on the work of Bill Viola (1951–2024, United States of America).  Professor of Electronic and Performing Arts at the University of La Sapienza in Rome, Valentini is a long-standing scholar engaged in intensive research across theatre, media, and performance art. In 1985, she authored one of the first Italian monographs dedicated to the American artist, titled Bill Viola. Vedere con la mente e con il cuore (Bill Viola. Seeing with the Mind and with the Heart), (Gangemi, 1985).
The meeting in Trieste will offer a unique opportunity to explore the work of this major American artist, accompanied by screenings of two of his seminal video works: Anthem (1983, 11’30”) and Ancient of Days (1979/81, 12’21”). Through the critical perspective of Valentina Valentini, the Trieste audience attending the 21st Giornata del Contemporaneo will also be introduced to her most recent work dedicated to Viola: Bill Viola. Tecnologie dell’intangibile (Bill Viola. Technologies of the Intangible), a monograph published by Postmedia Books in 2024. This volume represents a significant Italian contribution to the understanding of Viola’s oeuvre and to the broader discourse on forms of the intangible in contemporary art — from the centrality of the human figure to immersive installations, from the relationship between sound and image to the elaboration of a slowed, contemplative sense of time.

Valentina Valentini taught performance art and new media at the University of La Sapienza in Rome. Her research focuses on twentieth-century performance, with particular attention to the relationship between theatre, visual art, and new technologies. Her most recent books in this field include: Bill Viola. Tecnologie dell’intangibile (Bill Viola. Technologies of the Intangible) Postmedia, 2024; Bill Viola. Testi e conversazioni 1976-2014 (Texts and Conversations 1976–2014) Sciami Edizioni, 2020; I corpi del mondo contano (The Bodies of the World Matter), Performance Research Books, 2014; Nuovo teatro in Italia (New Theatre in Italy) Routledge, 2017. She has also edited; Drammaturgie sonore 2 Teatri del secondo Novecento (Sonic Dramaturgies 2: Theatre of the Late Twentieth Century) Bulzoni, 2020, and Eimuntas Nekrošius (Rubbettino, 1997). See also the websites: www.nuovoteatromadeinitaly.com and www.sciami.com