The classic form of an altar triptych in the video version as a final judgment over the Western civilization.

The City of Man

Bill Viola

1989

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Bill Viola’s „The City of Man” (1989) is a large-screen video installation which draws on Renaissance iconography and painting. Emulating an altar triptych, the installation consists of three projections which symbolically present earthly life, the Last Judgement and the hell, offering a contemporary allegory of existence. An expression of the artist’s existential and symbolic interests, it outlines a modern vision of the human being whose life spans across all these spheres.

The City of Man