Reenactment. Scambi tra nuove tecnologie e tradizione pittorica: il caso di Bill Viola e Sam Taylor-Wood

Abstract

The reflections on the sacred and the relationship between past and present begin with a general consideration rooted in postmodern culture. Over time, this culture has accustomed us to frequent chronological crossings based on quotation practices, making it increasingly evident that the so-called dialogue between works of art from different eras has produced an artificial phenomenon of estrangement. This phenomenon creates the illusion that the ancient has anticipated the contemporary, making the latter appear perpetually indebted to history. This is not simply because the past influences the present, but because of a specific artistic tendency to abstract works from their original contexts, evaluating them based on their purely formal qualities that render them comparable, similar, and even assimilable. In this context, prominent figures such as Sam Taylor-Wood and Bill Viola stand out. Despite their different geographical and cultural backgrounds, both artists focus their expressive research on the processes of recovering and manipulating ancient iconographies, particularly those related to the sacred. Their work demonstrates that the dialogue between past and present has never truly been interrupted. For these contemporary artists, Medieval and Renaissance masterpieces serve as open grounds for comparison, clearly revealing how the approach to the sacred has profoundly changed. It is no longer interpretable as an objective representation in its canonical sense, but rather as a depiction informed by critical analyses of the existential human condition and the pervasive sense of uncertainty that defines it.