Crossroads By Bill Viola Video artist Bill Viola was commissioned by Qatar Museums to create a work for the Hamad International Airport in Doha. Viola writes: “The central metaphor in this video installation is the concept of ‘Crossroads’, the meeting point of all cultures and peoples; the continuous movement of people through the landscape and the perpetual, ever changing movement of the landscape. There are two living streams that converge at the crossroads of humanity. One is of the present moment, the domain of ‘Now’, energy that is used to keep us moving, alert and functioning. The other is ‘Virtual’, that which has yet to be, and yet to become whole, the internal domain of memories, dreams, visions, longings, possibilities, chance encounters and random events. Crossroads creates an intersection between these two streams of human existence. It combines the reality of the travelers encountering the work, with virtual figures emerging from mirages and advancing towards the travelers. Each figure crosses a threshold from mirage to clarity as it moves towards the viewer, making visible their humanity and individuality, from all cultures and races, with the endless dunes of the desert in the distance.”