Pipilotti Rist (Swiss, b.1962) is an artist known for her colorful, fantastical, and sensual videos and installations. She studied commercial art, illustration and photography at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna from 1982 until 1986, developing an aesthetic reminiscent of MTV and advertising. One of her best-known videos, I’m Not a Girl Who Misses Much (1986), shows her singing and dancing hysterically to the Beatles song ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun.’ Rist integrates the loose narrative with the technical possibilities of video by speeding up, slowing down or distorting the image. In her Ever is Over All (1997), a woman smashes the windows of parked cars with a tropical flower, a playful gesture that also addresses the role of femininity in a media-saturated world. Her recent installation Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters) (2008) engulfed the atrium of the Museum of Modern Art in New York with a 25-by-200 foot video of pink tulips and nudes. Unlike other Conceptual artists who take a more intellectual approach, Rist conveys the critical element of her work by creating an intensely sensual experience. She received the Joan Mirò Prize in 2009, and her work has been exhibited internationally in institutions such as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as the biennials of São Paulo, Venice, Istanbul and Santa Fe. She completed her first feature film called Pepperminta in 2009. She currently lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland.
