Pipilotti Rist, a pioneer of spatial video art, was born 1962 in Grabs in the Swiss Rhine Valley on the Austrian Border and has been a central figure within the international art scene since the mid-1980s.
Astounding the art world with the energetic exorcistic statement of her now famous single channel videos, such as ‘I’m Not The Girl Who Misses Much,’ 1986 and ‘Pickelporno,’ 1992, her artistic work has co-developed with technical advancements and in playful exploration of its new possibilities to propose footage resembling a collective brain. Through large video projections and digital manipulation, she has developed immersive installations that draw life from slow caressing showers of vivid color tones, like her works ‘Sip My Ocean,’ 1996 or ‘Worry Will Vanish,’ 2014.
For Rist, showing vulnerability is a sign of strength on which she draws for inspiration. With her curious and lavish recordings of nature (to which humans belong as an animal), and her investigative editing, Rist seeks to justify the privileged position we are born with, simply by being human. Her installations and exhibition concepts are expansive, finding within the mind, senses and body the possibility for endless discovery and poetical invention. ‘Pixel Forest,’ 2016, made from 3,000 thousand LEDs hung on strings, resembles a movie screen that has exploded into the room, allowing viewers an immersive walk through 3-dimensional video. As she herself puts it, ‘beside the energy-intensive exploration of the geographical world, pictures, films and sounds have been and are the spaces into which we can escape... The projector is the flamethrower, the space is the vortex and you are the pearl within.’
Since 1984, Rist has had countless solo and group exhibitions, and video screenings worldwide. Her recent solo exhibitions are 'Electric Idyll' at the Fire Station Doha (2024), 'Prickling Goosebumps & A Humming Horizon' at Hauser & Wirth New York and Luhring Augustine Chelsea (2023-24), 'Behind Your Eyelid' at Tai Kwun Hong Kong (2022), ‘Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor’ at The Geffen Contemporary, MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (2021 – 2022), ‘Your Eye Is My Island’ at MoMAK, The National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto and ART TOWER MITO (2021). ‘Åbn min Lysning. Open my Glade’ at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Humlebæk Denmark (2019), ‘Sip My Ocean’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney (2017 – 2018), ‘Pixel Forest’ at New Museum New York (2016 – 2017) and ‘Your Saliva is My Diving Suit of the Ocean of Pain’ at Kunsthaus Zürich (2016), all resulted in record-breaking attendance numbers for each institution. A major exhibition is planned for summer 2025 at UCCA Beijing.
Pipilotti Rist. Prickling Goosebumps & a Humming Horizon
Installation view, Hauser & Wirth 22nd Street, New York NY, 2023
Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor
Installation view, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA, 2021 – 2022
Pipilotti Rist: Your Eye Is My Island
Installation view, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, 2021
Pipilotti Rist: Your Eye Is My Island
Installation view, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan, 2021
Het Leven Verspillen Aan Jou (Wasting Life On You)
Installation view, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen het Depot, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2021
Jordlys og pingpong med solen (Earth Lights and Ping-Pong with the Sun)
Installation view, DMJX The Danish School of Media and Journalism, Aarhus, Denmark, 2020
Pipilotti Rist. Åbn min lysning (Open My Glade)
Installation view, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, 2019
Pipilotti Rist: Your Saliva is my Diving Suit in the Ocean of Pain
Installation view, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2016
Weitraum. Die Kunst und ein Traum / Space. About a Dream
Installation view, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria, 2011
ILLUMInazioni / ILLUMInations. 54th International Art Exhibition
Installation view, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2011
Elixir: The Video Organism of Pipilotti Rist
Installation View, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2009
Pipilotti Rist
Installation view, FACT Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool, UK, 2008
Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today
Installation view, Museum of Modern Art, New York NY, 2008
51st International Art Exhibition, Contribution of Swiss Federal Office of Culture BAK
Installation view, Chiesa San Stae / La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2005
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Selected Group Exhibitions
Awards & Grants
Performances
Screenings
Monographs
Artist's Books & Writings
Publications
Press
PRICKLING GOOSEBUMPS & A HUMMING HORIZON
9 November 2023 – 6 April 2024
New York, 22nd Street
PRICKLING GOOSEBUMPS & A HUMMING HORIZON
9 November 2023 – 6 April 2024
New York, 22nd Street
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Fri 13 October 2023
9 – 10 am
The Foundling Museum, London
Fri 13 October 2023
9 – 10 am
The Foundling Museum, London
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