PRESS RELEASE
GENESIS AND THE PASSIONS

The Genesis Foundation will enter the visual arts for the first time in October when it supports an installation by the American video artist, Bill Viola at London's National Gallery. Inspired by early masterpieces that depict powerful emotions and called The Passions, the show was seen in a slightly different form at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles earlier this year.

John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said: "Bill Viola's video show is one of those cutting edge exhibitions that the widest possible audience will want to witness and experience and I'm pleased that the Genesis Foundation is able to allow the National Gallery to produce this show. It should be of as much interest to people with more conservative tastes as it will be to modern art aficionados. Those whose base is modern art and film will want to know more about the great works of the past that inspired Bill Viola in this installation; and those who start from the great masterpieces of the past will be encouraged to look at them in a fresh way and see that they depict universal and still-contemporary truth about human feelings. I am confident that The Passions will stimulate the kinds of debates about the arts that we should be having.

"I am thrilled that the first Genesis foray into the visual arts is in support of such visionary work by such a truly talented and original modern artist using the latest technologies for his medium."

The Genesis Foundation funds major, original developmental work by a range of young artists in all genres who are striving to create the classics of the future. It encourages the work of new composers and librettists through its Genesis Opera Project, is committed to new writing through its ongoing support of the Royal Court Theatre's UK and International Playwrights seasons, and has recently launched the Genesis Directors Project at the Young Vic. Genesis also works with and through organizations such as The Prince's Trust and LAMDA in order to provide support for new arts businesses, scholarships and bursaries.

For further Information, contact:
Harriet Capaldi
Genesis Foundation
Email: admingenesisfoundation [dot] org [dot] uk