Pipilotti Rist at Hauser & Wirth London and Somerset

13 January 2015

I am relaxing in a deep duvet as vividly coloured and seductive images glide gently by. Ill-defined body parts morph in to rich natural landscapes. In a kaleidoscopic reimagining of reality glistening spider webs and dew-laced foliage merge with eyeballs and elbows.

If all this sounds like drifting in to some morphine induced dream, I should explain that I am not tucked up in a warm bed, but rather slouched on the expansive floor of Hauser & Wirth’s Savile Row gallery as I take in one of the latest immersive video works of artist Pipilotti Rist.

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Rist has been taking a year-long residency at Hauser & Wirth’s Durslade Farm where she created the body of work now exhibiting at their London and Somerset spaces. In London Rist has created a fully immersive, sensory environment.

Pipilotti Rist Hauser & Wirth

Projected against two walls, ‘Worry Will Vanish Horizon’ is a journey inside the human body where corporeal images periodically overlap with close-up fragments from nature.

Pipilotti Rist Hauser & Wirth

Pipilotti Rist Hauser & Wirth

Boundaries are blurred between the self and nature as she explores the relationship between internal and external; how individuals are linked to the tissues and blood vessels of other organisms, and in so doing, she suggests relationships with the universe at large.

Pipilotti Rist Hauser & Wirth

Rist has also collaborated with artist and musician, Anders Guggisberg, on a laid-back accompanying soundtrack. The combined sensory environment is a warm and cosy place, and a joyous celebration of audio, texture and colour where worry does indeed almost immediately vanish and time drifts easily by.

Pipilotti Rist Hauser & Wirth

Meanwhile around the immaculately restored Somerset farm buildings, a bunting of underpants and knickers flaps in the country breeze. Illuminated from within as dusk falls, they become a celebratory washing line.

Pipilotti Rist Hauser & Wirth

In the galleries, sheepskin replaces duvets for another immersive video, this time accompanied by a banjo soundtrack. Once again Rist celebrates the interaction of the human body and environment in ‘Mercy Garden’. We follow a local farmer as he gently interacts with nature before also taking us out to sea, where we float, swim and observe.

Pipilotti Rist Hauser & Wirth

In the next space the installation Sleeping Pollen features mirrored spheres that slowly revolve over the gallery. Images of nature fall on to the darkened walls, dimly lit from the green and red acetate covered doors and windows.

If only everyone shared this joyous celebration of humanity and nature. It is a sheer pleasure to join Rist’s delightful world – even if it is just for far too short a stay.

Worry Will Vanish is at Hauser & Wirth London until 10 January 2015; Stay Stamina Stay is at Hauser & Wirth Somerset until 22 February 2015.

For more information visit www.hauserwirth.com