The Reflecting Pool
Video by Bill Viola
1977-79, 6:58 min.
The Reflecting Pool is a series comprising five individual videos, including Moonblood, that offer a collective meditation on the various stages in an individual life. The first work, also titled The Reflecting Pool, demonstrates the shift from stillness to motion as a fixed camera captures a man approaching a pool of water through trees and lush foliage. The only sounds are those of the branches rustling and the water rippling. The man momentarily stands before the pool before jumping into the air. As he reaches the crest of his jump, he is frozen in space while the water beneath him continues to undulate. There is a fleeting reflection of other people walking around the pool, although no one can be seen doing so. After a series of similar perceptual and temporal fragmentations, the man’s image fades, leaving only the pool. The final moments of the video are evocative of baptism, as a nude man emerges from the water and retreats into the woods.-Art Institute Chicago