Five Angels for the Millenium

In May 2003, five beings moved into the Gasometer which were seemingly not of this world: - 'Five Angels for the Millennium' - an installation by Bill Viola, one of the most important video artists world-wide. The five angels for the new millennium entered into a spherical dialogue with the huge industrial cathedral. Never before had Viola shown his installation completed in California in 2001 in a comparable room.

'Five Angels for the Millennium' consists of five complementary video sequences: - the Ascending Angel, the Birth Angel, the Creation Angel, the Departing Angel and the Fire Angel. On huge screens on the steel walls of the Gasometer, suspended at heights between twelve and 64 metres the images shimmered, shone, sprayed and exploded. In addition there were sounds which with the special acoustics of the Gasometer gave you an inkling of infinity.

140,000 visitors saw the angels in the Gasometer. In the area below the disc an exhibition documented Viola's work, gave a foretaste of the works of art in the air space above. The 'Five Angels for the Millennium' drew the attention of an international art public to the Gasometer.