Pipiloti Rist

Ivan and I went to see Pipiloti Rist's exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Rist's video art has come to be a real inspiration for me. It was nice to see them not on my computer. Her installations floored me.

One of the most impressive installations was entitled "Apple Tree Innocent On Diamond." It's pure magic. The projection light creates shadows from the large and intricate tree branch structure as well as the various items hanging from the branches (a plethora of interesting shapes in movement). Oh but it's not done. The light also bounces off the various plastic objects creating illuminations- beautiful ghosts that dance around the room.





"Selfless In The Bath Of Lava" still haunts me in the best way possible. You are walking around and somewhere you here someone pleading in different languages aside the sound of fire burning. You walk one way and it grows fainter, the other and it grows louder. So you walk towards it, naturally, trying to find it. But where is it coming from? Well soon enough you will look down and see a tiny little woman pleading to you from a hole inside the wood floor. The video could only be about 4 by 4 inches or so (but I'm bad with measurements). It's teency! And that's part of it's power. It brings you to your knees, literally. She is naked looking up at you from a pit of fire. On the looping soundtrack, Rist cries in German, French, Italian and English: “Help me! Excuse me! I am a worm and you are a flower. You would have done everything better.” And what can we do? Nothing. We are powerless.





Fortunate enough to see these? Here's a compilation from UBUWEB of Rist's videos.



What you saw:

* 1992 - Als der Bruder meiner Mutter geboren wurde, duftete es nach wilden Birnenbluten vor dem braungebrannten Sims - 4 Min.
* 1999 - Aujourd'hui
* 1993 - Blutclip - 2:50 Min.
* 1988 - (Entlastungen) Pipilottis Fehler - 11:10 Min.
* 2003 - I Want To See How You See
* 1995 - I`m a Victim Of This Song - 5 Min.
* 1986 - I'm Not The Girl Who Misses Much - 7:45 Min.
* ? - Lullaby
* 1998 - Oasis Dance, Sipping My Desert--Santa Fe, New Mexico
* 1996 - Mutaflor
* 1992 - Pickelporno - 12 Min.
* 1998 - Regen Spot Sverige
* 1987 - Sexy Sad I - 4:36 Min.
* 1990 - You Called Me Jacky - 4 Min

(http://www.ubu.com/)