Pipilotti Rist has been researching the interaction between videos and the body, spatial spaces, and psychological landscapes through ethereal art installations for over 30 years. “Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor,” the Swiss visual artist’s first West Coast exhibition, has opened at Los Angeles’ Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Rist first appeared on the scene in 1986 with I’m Not the Girl Who Misses Much, a single-channel video in which a brunette wildly sang lyrics to the Beatles’ Happiness Is a Warm Gun. The movie reflects on how technological improvements reflect the creative unconscious of the brain in an interesting (and rather unsettling) way. Rist would go on to create a number of contemplative videos as well as works that have been shown all over the world.
The show at MOCA spans three decades of work and includes a new mesmerizing audio-visual installation created specifically for the Geffen.
For most of her previous work, Rist uses pain and innocence as a platform to portray the fears imposed by modern society.
She previously described “pictures, films and sounds” as “spaces into which we can escape… The projector is the flamethrower, the space is the vortex and you are the pearl within.’
“Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor” is on view until June 6, 2022.
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
152 N Central Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90012
