Video Art Part 2

The one about the bird slipping on the rail did actually have a meaning for me. I saw it as kinda representing the slippery slope of sin. The bird kept trying to reach the bread, he knew that he would slide down the railing, but he kept coming back. He tried to prevent the slipping, but it didn’t work, and even though he knew he would fall he kept coming back. I half expected him to fall into harm at some point in the film. This really reminds me of people and sin. We try to reach for what we think will be a good thing, but we fall into sin because of it. And even though we know that doing that causes us to sin we keep coming back to it. It is like we can’t help ourselves we have to. And one major difference between us and the bird is that the bird could fly away and we can’t. The only way we can fly away from our sins is if God lifts us up and helps us to get away.

The piece by Bill Viola was one that I am not sure about. Even though he explained that Bill makes biblical stories in slow motion I still didn’t get the fact that it was the resurrection until they explained that afterward. The whole time we were watching it I was trying to figure out how it was made. I think I figured that the filmed someone jumping in the water and played it in reverse. Which is an interesting concept. The actual film pretty much creeped me out. Maybe I am just extra creeped out by bodies floating in the water. I think that drowning would not be a very pleasant way to die, but maybe it is the thought of dying in general that creeps me out. Maybe this is why video art is not something that really appeals to me, most of it that I have seen deals with death.