Since the mid-1980s, Rist has explored the sensory, emotional, and psychological dimensions of moving image, often merging saturated colour, dreamlike imagery, and layered sound to create enveloping experiences. Her practice engages with the body, nature, and technology as intertwined sites of pleasure, vulnerability, and critique, frequently addressing themes of femininity, sexuality, and the subconscious. Through her innovative approach to scale and projection, Rist transforms spaces into fluid, meditative landscapes that collective immersion.
Pipilotti Rist loves beets. Her focus is on video and audio installations. She wants to be kind and is a little autistic. She likes machines and children. She says: The task of art is to contribute to evolution, to encourage the mind, to ensure a distanced view of social change, to summon positive energies, to stimulate the senses and sensuality, to reconcile reason and instinct, to explore possibilities, and to destroy clichés and prejudices.
Rist has had countless solo and group exhibitions and video screenings worldwide. Her recent solo exhibitions are 'Electric Idyll' at the Fire Station, Doha (2024), 'Prickling Goosebumps & A Humming Horizon' at Hauser & Wirth New York and Luhring Augustine Chelsea (2023-24), 'Behind Your Eyelid' at Tai Kwun Hong Kong (2022), ‘Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor’ at The Geffen Contemporary, MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (2021 – 2022), ‘Your Eye Is My Island’ at MoMAK, The National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto and ART TOWER MITO (2021). ‘Åbn min Lysning. ‘Open my Glade’ at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Humlebæk Denmark (2019), ‘Sip My Ocean’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney (2017 – 2018), ‘Pixel Forest’ at New Museum, New York (2016 – 2017) and ‘Your Saliva is My Diving Suit of the Ocean of Pain’ at Kunsthaus Zürich (2016), all resulted in record-breaking attendance numbers for each institution.
A major exhibition is planned for summer 2025 at UCCA, Beijing. Her installations and videos are held in major public collections, including MoMA, Tate, Centre Pompidou, and the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen.
