Stained Glass for the 21st Century: St Paul’s Installs Plasma Screen Art

THE TELEGRAPH
By John Bingham

Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), a new large-scale video installation
by artist Bill Viola for St Paul's Cathedral (JULIAN SIMMONDS)

UNITED KINGDOM--- It is being viewed as a 21st century answer to the medieval stained glass masterpieces or renaissance frescoes depicting vivid Biblical scenes of suffering and death. St Paul’s Cathedral in London has become the first church in Britain to introduce a permanent a video art installation – complete with hints of bondage and waterboarding. Martyrs, by the American artist Bill Viola, is made up of four plasma screens installed next to the High Altar in Sir Christopher Wren’s church. The panels, arranged like a traditional altarpiece, simultaneously show four seven minute-films, in which the martyrs are subjected to torture and death through the elements: earth, air, fire and water. [link]