This retrospective focuses on Pipilotti Rist (b. 1962), an internationally active contemporary artist based in Switzerland. Rist’s video installations, consisting of comforting, sensorially stimulating music, and humorous snatches of images depicting a realm of vivid color, have charmed viewers of all ages throughout the world.
The exhibition is made of some 40 works, dealing with themes such as the body, women, nature, and ecology. Functioning as a complete overview of Rist’s approximately 30-year career, the retrospective encompasses everything from the artist’s early short videos focusing on the female body and identity; a major work that was presented at the Venice Biennale; a recent large-scale video installation, which gently extols a symbiosis between nature and humans using state-of-the-art video techniques; a new work that incorporates pieces from the museum collection; and an outdoor work fashioned out of recycled materials. With playful and immersive video experiences, which enable the viewer to relax on a bed and sit around a dining table, the exhibition restructures the relationship between the viewer and the museum in the era of the coronavirus, while also gradually unraveling pressing themes in contemporary society by means of the viewer’s body.