Pipilotti Dans Le Cinéma

Pipilotti Rist - photo by Giorgio@vonarb-fotografie.ch

Pipilotti Rist has been invited by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi to use the Manzoni Movie Theater for a large monographic exhibition (open untill December 18th).  Being regularly invited to the Venice Biennale the Swiss artist is quite well known and appreciated  in Italy and the new exhibition do not deserve great surprises. Unlike with the usual white box museums and art gallery minimalistic settings this time video installations are challenged by the heavy beauty of the deserted movie theater (built 1947-50 and since 2006 out of service). The result is pretty much like the atmosphere of an empty club, with vintage furniture, lysergic videos and lounge music. Unfortunately nobody is serving drinks at the bar.

Below a couple of pictures from the press release and quotes by the artist.

Cape Cod Chandelier - Courtesy Pipilotti Rist; Hauser & Wirth - Photo: Marco De Scalzi

I want to create a complete environment in which the spectator can let him or herself go and become fully absorbed by the images and sounds in the film. The film is therefore going to be both a journey into the subconscious as well as a meditative experience.

Homo Sapiens Sapiens - Courtesy Pipilotti Rist; Hauser & Wirth - Photo: Marco De Scalzi

I invite people to take a trip through the body directly in front of and behind the eyelids. I bow to my objects and I glorify nature. I scoop up time for viewers and listeners.

Not annoying, but too narrow: I agree I’m consciously conjuring up the positive sides of mad or hysteric gestures – but it is more that fun. It’s a survival tactic to let female characteristics shine in the sun, and turn around some of the negative prejudices by performing them positively.

I try to feel, smell, see, listen, touch and taste in as much detail as possible. But I’m not satisfied with my capability yet.

Open My Glade - Courtesy Pipilotti Rist; Hauser & Wirth - Photo: Marco De Scalzi

I have always considered video to be most wonderful repository for my fears, my desires, my subconscious, the picture in my head. So I have never understood why these images have to be contained. When I close my eyes, my imagination roams free. In the same way I want to create spaces for video art that rethink the very nature of the medium itself, I want to discover new ways of configuring the world, both the world outside and the world within.

I Am Called A Plant - Courtesy Pipilotti Rist; Hauser & Wirth - Photo: Marco De Scalzi

I think it is the role of art to take our dreams and make them real, and in doing so change our perception of reality into something that is super fantastic! That is the wonder and enchantment of creative mind. Art at its best promotes positive energies that allow us to reconcile our reason with what we call instinct. It is colour noise. It opens our brains to new ways of seeing and experiencing the world around us. It makes us feel alive.

The artist creates a pleasant atmosphere enveloping the visitors and bringing them to singular thoughts. I became the same impression I had in some previous installations meeting the “puer aeternus”,  the eternal child usually awfully neglected, but not by Pipilotti Rist, who has made a great success out of her programmatic relationship with him. This child is both inpiring and irritating in the way he presents his coloured pictures as immediate portraits of internal life, looking for a role in society. This is the less convincing aspect of the exhibition and both the wise words of the curator and the bold statements of the artist cannot help making it a metaphysical experience.

Below some pictures of mine, bad quality but well reflecting the exhibition’s mood.