Bill Viola is a 63-year-old video artist who believes that art's purpose is to "wake up the soul" in our fast-paced modern world. He uses new media technologies like video, sound, and electronics to explore universal human experiences like birth, death, and emotions. Influenced by Joseph Beuys and Mark Rothko, Viola's works often feature water as a symbolic element, drawing on his childhood experience of nearly drowning in a lake. His 1992 installation "The Dreamers" depicts seven people apparently sleeping underwater in individual screens, their slow movements and bubbles evoking a sense of submersion for the viewer.