Space Invader
Pipilotti Rist's first Solo Show in
Japan
In
Europe, she has long been considered one of the most important figures of
contemporary art. But she's only now opened her first solo show in Japan.
"Karakara," her exhibition at the Hara Museum in Tokyo, is sponsored by
Deutsche Bank. C. Mark Smith wonders whether the Japanese are ready for
Rist's unique digital cosmos.
Upon
entering the Hara
Museum of Contemporary Art, housed in a palatial home that once
belonged to the grandparents of the museum’s director, a group of people
could be seen gathering outside the entrance of the room containing A
la belle etoile (Under The Sky) (2007). They seemed hesitant to enter
the room, as it meant entering the work, which was projected onto the
floor. It was only after a few people took the first step, encouraged by a
helpful guide, that people began milling about, physically interacting
with Pipilotti
Rist’s gravity-defying film.
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Pipilotti Rist, A la belle etoile
(Under The Sky), (2007), installation viewHara Museum of
Contemporary Art, Tokio
Photo
Hirotaka Yonekura, Courtesy Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
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"A la belle etoile deals with up and down, as
we are normally reduced to a vertical perception of electronic media. I
like to play with the physical situation of people visiting the museum,"
the Swiss artist says. "This room lent itself to addressing the ceiling or
the ground. The vestibule space at the Hara Museum reminds me of a church,
the way the height of the architectural space suggests that the spirit is
more important than the sinful body—this whole Christian-Jewish-Muslim
idea of dividing the body and spirit. What interested me with this work
was that the picture merges with your legs, that it’s not really doing
anything to the room itself. You just slip into something that’s already
there." The Hara’s vestibule offers another perspective for viewing A
la belle etoile: a balcony accessible from the second floor allows
visitors to peer down at the artwork and get a clearer view of the slowly
spinning images of people playing in a park, skyscrapers, and abstractions
of everyday objects.
Pipilotti
Rist, Gina´s mobile, (2007),
installation
view Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokio
Photo
Hirotaka Yonekura, Courtesy Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
Another
of Rist’s abstractions of an everyday object can be found in Gina’s
mobile (2007), a small piece perched at the top of a staircase – easy
to overlook among the larger installations surrounding it. It consists of
a stick with a golden ball on one end and a screen on the other."It shows
five different clips of a vulva." A beautifully pure-looking pink, the
subject of the film looks almost unreal, as if it had been made in a
special-effects lab. Some visitors looked at it for a while and then
wandered off without much comment. Another couple approached it, and then,
realizing what it was, turned around and headed off in a different
direction. Even the museum’s description of the work is intentionally
cryptic: "In a world of taboos, this work focuses on taboos related to
skin."
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Pipilotti Rist, Deine Raumkapsel
(Your Space-Capsule), 2006,
audio
video installation, Photo by Barbara Gerny
Courtesy
the artist and Hauser & Wirth Zürich London
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"For a long time, I’ve been interested in why we place so
many different values on different parts of the body. It’s a sensitive
area, sensitive emotionally as well, it’s taboo. In a psychological sense,
we haven’t come to terms with it. I like to look at it as though it were
another species. There are probably many reasons why we place such
significance on such a small section of skin. Also, watching ourselves so
closely, we see that we are ephemeral. You can look at it coolly from a
medical standpoint, but from the cultural side, it’s like, ‘woooh!’"
Pipilotti
Rist, Ever Is Over All (1997),
installation
view Courtesy Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokio
Photo
Hirotaka Yonekura, Courtesy Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
The
screen and the golden ball appear to represent different parts of the
vagina. "In Japanese," Rist explains, "they call the testicles kintama -
‘golden balls’. So they thought, ‘Ah, you’re speaking of men’s balls!’ So,
how we look at something is closely linked with our cultural education. It
was interesting for me to show in Japan, but I’m aware that many things
mean something different here. I’ve seen this happen in other countries,
but the jump to Japan — or to Far East Asia — was the biggest. I’ve only
shown in Japan, Korea, and Shanghai, and there were some big distances to
deal with. But from another perspective, the works take on different
meanings as they do with every visitor. When Ever Is Over All was
first shown in Venice, a Japanese woman asked me, ‘Do you really want
everybody going around smashing cars?’ I don’t know if this was a personal
or cultural concern."
Pipilotti
Rist, Das Zimmer (The Room) (1994/2007),
installation
view Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokio
Photo
Hirotaka Yonekura, Courtesy Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
Ever
Is Over All (1997) and Das Zimmer (The Room) (1994/2007) may be
the highlights of the show, as they generated the most interest. In a room
toward the back of the V-shaped building, museum-goers trickled in to view
images of tropical flowers and a carefree woman smashing car windows with
one of these flowers. Though nobody watching the artwork seemed to be
concerned about public safety, the audience stood back against the wall,
perhaps fearful of invading the "sacred space" of the art.
Pipilotti
Rist, Closet Circuit, 2000,
installation
view Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokio
Photo
Hirotaka Yonekura, Courtesy Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
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