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3.4.98 >> 1.5.98
Pipilotti Rist in her video installation Ever is over all, 1997, which
debuted at the Venice Biennale in June 1997 (and received first prize
in the Video Art category) and is now being shown in Israel for the first
time.
Pipilotti Rist was born in 1962 in the Valley of the Rhine. She lives
and works as a video artist in Zurich and Leipzig. In 1996 she was appointed
the new Director of Exhibition 2001.
"If I had I lived a 150 years, I would have thought the world is
all mine," says Pipilotti Rist with a typical sense of humor. "At
first I wanted to be a supporter of Third World countries, then I wanted
to be a physicist, and eventually - a policewoman. Today I'm a director...
which is not bad at all."
In the past few years Pipilotti Rist has won international recognition,
and during the last year she has become a rising star in the field of
video art. She is invited to all major international art events. Recently
she was awarded first prize for video at the Korea Biennale, Fall 1997.
Despite her indisputable success and her very tight schedule, she has
agreed to present her work, which since Venice has not been shown anywhere
else, in Israel.
Pipilotti Rist likes working with friends, and her video piece Ever is
over all features: in the leading role, her friend who is a flight attendant;
another friend in the role of a policewoman; and in the background, the
white-haired old lady - her mom, and the long-haired 34-year old young
man - her brother.
The cover photograph: Shooting Divas, a two-part show and Pipilotti Rist's
largest production to date, which took place at the Centre d'Art Contemporain
in Geneva in 1996. The project originated from two texts by Rist and two
pieces of original music by Andreas Gugginsberg.
The exhibit was made possible with the financial help of Pro Helvetia,
Arts Council of Switzerland and Swiss Air, and with the kind support of
the Embassy of Switzerland in Israel
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The family would call her Lotti - the name was Pipi - not unlike Pipi
Langstrumpf*, whose image she enjoys to evoke.As per her own definition, she was "A child of the TV era, who grew with this medium. I knew the feeling of not being able to tell which was real, the afternoon walk in the woods or whatever the screen would offer when I got home. It's typical for the TV generation and all this abounds in my work.." This delightful affluence is like a refreshing breath of wind blowing over the Arts. What would be the Video without Pipilotti? She brings new vigour into the medium: she is impertinent, funny, insolent, tender, erotic, sexy. All Taboos are broken waters while her ears are pricked up to capture the flow of these fluids. The menstrual blood: "It's all about making the blood breathe into the open air, and show off the red fluid, this wonderful sap, this carnal clock... Blood is our vital sap, the purest possible." Thus we bring about this ado into the agitated movement of her world of words, images and sounds, from one end to the other, at full speed. Total work of art, how far are you behind this lovable and convivial profusion, of dynamic impressions, which can mix the Kitsch with the profound, the comical with the tenderness, the sound with the noise? The body, her body, the nude, her nakedness, inhale, exhale, cry for help and word of wisdom, like brought by a snow-storm, intertwine in her clips, of refined, but at the same time, childish and full of know-how mixing and editing.
In an older video clip, Pipilotti Rist shows a naked man "dancing in the in the forest. We can see, in slow motion, his dangling little tail." This piece of film is the only one which had not been previously shown on TV. "Though it is represented in a very esthetic and graceful manner, it seems it was viewed as debasing. The rod produces the impression of vulnerability. It may be that here we are confronted with one of the few taboos left, for the male sexual organ is constantly represented either resting or in full erection, but, it seems that people are made uncomfortable by this uncontrollable swinging of male sexual organs."
The stardom seems always just around the corner for Pipilotti, just because she believes in herself. But this confidence stretches along the tapes. She really doesn't miss much. A very, very Replica IWC Portofino attainable queen. She is fully emptying the aquarium of life. And we are facing this container, observing its fauna, yearning to get ourselves lost in this seducing fan of erotic temptations, amongst pieces of furniture already too large for this room. " Without paying any respect to the technique, I set towards the sun in my computer". And we are zapping, as long as our eyes could stand it, in this nursery reserved for grown-ups.
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*Also known as Bilbi the red-head