Bill Viola video installation heralds new national exhibition space for faith art

THE GUARDIAN
By Mark Brown

Bill Viola’s video installation is shown front of a the carved 19th-century oak reredos in Auckland Caste, County Durham. Photograph: Mark Pinder

UNITED KINGDOM---Watched by saints in the largest private chapel in Europe in front of a fabulously carved 19th-century oak reredos of martyrs, four modern human figures go through their own tortures. They are all part of a video installation by Bill Viola in St Peter’s Chapel, Auckland Castle, the former palace of the Prince Bishops of Durham. It is a significant commission. The Viola, a bespoke edition of a large video work of Martyrs that was installed last year in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, will be the first of further contemporary art commissions for the castle. [link]