Tai Kwun: Pipilotti Rist – Behind Your Eyelid, Part 1

Visual artist Pipilotti Rist reveals her story of group sex through deeply sensual and immersive multimedia installation art. The artist conjures up an entire realm of erotic spectacle through video art and object placement. She recently had a multimedia exhibition at Tai Kwun, entitled Behind Your Eyelid. The theme of the exhibition is a story of a trampled whore jumping in hell fire.
Explanation on the website stated the genre and characteristics of her art evidently but remained elusive about the theme. Viewers can only find out the theme by observing artworks on site. The exhibition was meticulously curated. According to the curator, curating the exhibition took two years.

JC Contemporary, the building that the exhibition took place, consists of four floors: G/F to 3/F. Strangely, the order of viewing artworks is upside down. The audience is advised to view artworks from 3/F to 1/F. The video below shows the overall setting of the venue.

Topics Covered in Part 1

• 3/F: Pixel Forest, Sip My Ocean
• 2/F: Soul Lights, Selfless in Bath of Lava

Topics Covered in Part 2

• 1/F: The Apartment, Big Skin

3/F
Pixel Forest

Pixel Forest, 2016-2022, Hanging LED light installation

Pixel Forest, 2016-2022, Hanging LED light installation

Pixel Forest, 2016-2022, Hanging LED light installation

In a dark and spacious hall, Hundreds of strings attached with glass lights resemble vulvae hang on the ceiling of the room. Vulva lights are attached evenly from top to bottom on a string. A moderate amount of distance between hanged strings gives the audience enough space to wander inside the installation. Rainbow colors sweep glass vulva lights like ocean waves. Examined closely, some vulva lights have various lengths of icicles attached to them. Eerie yet soothing music plays in the background. Sometimes, the witchy voice of the artist echoes: “you see me, I see you, I want to see how you see.”
The artwork represents a screen of pixels on porno sites. The artwork induces the audience to imagine the artist lost in indulging in decadent videos, images, and texts that taint her mind. When entering a forest, explorers might get lost and can’t guarantee that they can find a way out. Rist’s story of prostitution unfolds from the dirty habit of the artist before she was involved in prostitution.

Sip My Ocean

Sip My Ocean, 1996, Two-channel video projection

A symmetrical video plays on two-channel screens in a similar setting as the previous room. While watching the video, the audience can either sit on a cushion or stand outside of the rug area. According to the exhibition pamphlet, the video is shot under the Red Sea. Video are shot at an intentional angle that the whole setting is hard to see. A seductive ballad plays along the video. The song is “Wicked Games” by Chris Issac. The background music is a reinterpretation of the original song.
The visual quality of video is not meeting expectation of the ticket price. The quality of the composition is disappointing. It is sentimental and lacks any narrative or purpose. The quality of music surpasses that of video. The mellifluous melody of the acoustic guitar in the reinterpretation is more sentimental than that of the original version. The melody is evocative of the push and pulls of the flowing Red Sea wave. The lyrics of the song are the most powerful component of the artwork. The lyrics are especially pronounced, so the audience can clearly understand their meaning. Lyrics represent the artist’s perspective on group sex and prostitution. She attempts to establish an emotional connection with the audience by addressing her thoughts through the lyrics.

2/F

Installations of 2/F are slightly misleading and pinpointing artworks on display was a bit challenging. The site-specific installation art easily deceives the audience into thinking that it is a trendy library. Technically, the whole 2/F is an installation art itself, but there are two specific parts that require the attention of the audience.

Soul Lights

Soul Lights, 2022, Installation with colored windows

Soul Lights, 2022, Installation with colored windows

Soul Lights, 2022, Installation with colored windows

The first is Soul Lights. The installation features colored filters attached on windows of 2/F. Refined shades of red, magenta, yellow, green, and blue tinted ample sunlight coming through the glass. Colored glass filters in Soul Lights indicate that the artist was mind-controlled. When looking outside through a glass window without any colored filters, the outside world is normal. However, when looking outside through a glass window with a yellow-colored filter, the outside world looks saturated with yellow. Mind-controlled person views the world through a colored filter, a distorted perception of reality.

 

Selfless in Bath of Lava

Selfless in Bath of Lava, 1994, Audio video installation

The second is Selfless in Bath of Lava. The size of the artwork is so small that finding the artwork would have been impossible without the help of a guard on 2/F. The artwork is installed in a tiny hole in the rug on the floor. In a tiny LCD monitor as small as a thumb, the naked artist is engulfed by burning lava and raises both of her hands to reach for salvation from above. She screams out loud: “I’m a worm and you are a flower, so please help me.” The artist scaled the artwork down, so not all of the audience would be able to see her being tortured in burning lava. The video represents the artist’s state of mind while engaging in prostitution. 

Tai Kwun: Pipilotti Rist – Behind Your Eyelid, Part 2

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