Anne Wagner is professor of modern art in the History of Art Department at UC Berkeley and the author of Three Artists (Three Women): Modernism and the Art of Hesse, Krasner, and O'Keeffe.

Bill Viola's hallmark concerns-the phenomenology of perception, the sites of the spirit, the exigencies of time-are expressed with virtuosic flair in his single-channel videoworks. But it is more than technical virtuosity-video's optical and acoustic qualities become a metaphorical substance that suspends consciousness. In The Space Between the Teeth (1976, 9:10 mins), a deceptively simple zoom effect hurtles us to the end of a corridor where a man is screaming. Strange acoustic shifts and the velocity of the image unite to create an almost palpable ululation. Viola achieves ecstatic movement within the static confines of The Reflecting Pool (1977–79, 7 mins). A man's passage, suspended in a midair leap, is recorded on the aqueous surface of the pool beneath him. Time is a tactile element in the remarkable fugue Ancient of Days (1979–81, 12:21 mins), where different temporal references occur across a fluid landscape. The monumental Hatsu Yume (First Dream) (1981, 56 mins) explores light and darkness as metaphors for the ethereal states of consciousness. Japan's lush landscapes supply the visual bounty: an otherworldly bamboo forest, koi abstracted in a pond, the nocturnal harshness of Tokyo. Viola's play of light across these stunning images reflects not just a transcendent state but an estrangement from the physical world.

An additional work by Viola, The Passing, is featured in a free screening at PFA on February 5.