Bill Viola

Going Forth By Day is a projected digital image cycle in five parts dealing with the themes of human existence – individuality, society, death and rebirth. The work is experienced architecturally, with all five image sequences playing simultaneously in one large gallery. In order to enter the space, visitors must literally step into the light of the first image. Once inside, they stand at the center of an image-sound world, surrounded by projected images on all the walls. The story told by each panel is embedded within the larger narrative cycle of the whole room. Viewers are free to move around the space and see each image panel individually or to stand back and experience the whole.

The five image sequences are approximately thirty minutes in length and play in synchronization on a continuous loop. The sound heard by each panel mixes freely in the space, creating an overall acoustic ambience. The images are projected directly onto the walls with no screens or framed supports, much as in the narrative fresco cycles of the Italian Renaissance, where the paint was blended directly into the plaster surface of the walls. The title of the work comes from the literal translation of the title of The Egyptian Book of the Dead, where the soul is freed from the darkness of the body to finally "go forth by the light of day".