Bill Viola was born in New York, 1951. Graduated in the College of Visual and Performing Arts' Experimental Studios at Syracuse University, New York. Production director for Art/Tapes/22 Production House, in Florence, Italy. He has travelled to the Salomon Islands, Java, Sahara desert and Tunisia researching sound and images. At the beginning of the 80's, lived in Japan and in Buddhist Monasteries. He taught video at California Institute of the Arts. In 1984, made a documentary about Suva's community ceremony of firewalking, in the Fuji Islands. Among many awards, he has won the "Videoart" Grand Prix of he 8th Locarno International Festival, in Switzerland. During the last three years, Viola won 23 prizes, and 11 of them were in individual shows.