Experimental Video Research - Pipilotti Rist

When choosing an experimental artist to look at in more detail I chose Pipilotti Rist because I had never heard of her before so thought it would be really interesting to look at someone new. Also her work appealed to me the most because she used techniques such as combine images to create deeper meaning in her work which I also really like the concept of doing. Here is one of her peices which drew me to her:

I really like this piece because the two images are linked through the use of the flower yet they are basically polar opposites of each other because one is showing the beauty of the flower in nature whilst the over shows its destructiveness. I find this piece really mesmerising trying to work out why she is doing what she is doing.

Here are the 6 main points I researched about her and her work:

1)
This video explains how she likes to work with small groups which is really interesting however the main point she makes which I think is most interesting is that she explains that now this industry has developed she can experiment with all her tools the way she wants. She expresses her love fore the art by saying she uses her camera in the same way a painter will use there paintbrush to express themselves. I just like how you can see her excitment for what she does.

2)
In this video I feel it teaches me that it isn't just her imagery that is important but it is also the space in which the videos and imagery are viewed by the audience. The space helps to change the way the audience views and interacts with it which is important because as she explains the viewers are the most important part of her work. A lot of her work is celebrating human nature and us as people so it is vital that the viewers feel important in that space too.

3) http://www.luhringaugustine.com/artists/pipilotti-rist/bio
I have read her short biography on line and found it really interesting that she has said: 'Arts task is to contribute to evolution, to encourage the mind, to guarantee a detached view of social changes, to conjure up positive energies, to create sensuousness, to reconcile reason and instinct, to research possibilities and to destroy clichés and prejudices.' I really like this opinion she has because she is basically saying that art is a very positive thing and specially her work which she uses to conquer negativity especially that surrounding people such a negative stereotypes. Although a lot of her work focuses on the female form especially her earlier pieces (because she used her own body) she is actually trying to represent human kind as a whole and create some positivity surrounding that.

4)http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/sep/26/pipilotti-rist-hayward-gallery-review
I found this article from The Guardian really interesting because it is speaking about how it actually feels to go to one of her exhibitions. From reading it I can imagine just how engaging her work really is because the writer says they felt absorbed in it and said it almost addictive. This shows that she really does live up to her earlier statement where she said all her work is about the people viewing. I get the sense from this that her work is very intense and therefore very engaging taking you on a constant emotional roller coaster. This is because all her work has a strong message and she wants you to be immersed in each and every message. The most important part of this article to me is how they constantly describe her work as overwhelming and also very sensual.

5)https://www.nowness.com/story/pipilotti-rist-worry-will-vanish
This website shows us a small clip from her piece 'Worry will Vanish' which is a a corner screen showing videos of nature combine with close ups of the body such as veins and it is meant to be viewed in a cosy installation space which has a soft carpet and duvets for you to snuggle in whilst viewing. It is to encouraging complete relaxation in people. What I like most about the article is that it talks about how she came up with this concept initially. She had a friend who discovered and took LSD, he then described the experience to her saying 'I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with an intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours.' So she used his description of the experience as her starting point to how she was going to make this video work using the same style to show the beauty of the world.

6)

This interview is a lot longer than the other I looked at as she goes into a lot more depth with what she is saying. I really like how she spoke about how she is desperately trying to develop and use the technology in the best possible way and in the way she wants to create new things for the people all the time. I also liked how we got to see a lot of snippets of her work in this video because each one was unique and different but what was more noticeable was that each one was presented to the viewer in a very unique and relevant way. Such as her having the viewer lay down and look up at the projections because she believes this will change the way they view it and also then the way they interpret it. The most important thing I felt like she said here was the way she was describing making her exhibitions taking the viewer on a journey as they move from one piece to another and how it is all about them being as immersed as possible which is why she present them the way she does.