Post Modern Reality in the Work of Pipilotti Rist

Fairy tales, folk stories and myths re-enchant; drawing from our nostalgia for pre-modernity, where the enchanted state (seemingly the destination of post modernity) appeared to have been the norm. Manheim stated that:
wishful thinking has always figured in human affairs. When the imagination finds no satisfaction in existing reality, it seeks refuge in wishfully constructed places and periods
(MANNHEIM 1972 p.184)
Myths embrace a reality which is not mediated by science or rationalisation, creating an interpretation of reality which traditionally is closely linked to a particular community.

Contrary to post modernism, myths begin to reform lost metanarratives (for example the loss of religious prominence with the rationalisation of modernity). This belief structure is reasserted by contemporary myth as people search for something to have faith in; hence interest in UFOlogy, spirituality and other alternative belief systems is rapidly growing. Rist's work could be seen as referring to these ideas of myths in their appropriation of reality in their work - capturing her audiences' imagination with stories which evolve your understanding in a new direction.

Gaston Bachelard (1994) wrote that 'A fairy tale is a reasoning image' (p.163) and this idea helps us to understand Rist's work and its characterisation of the artist. Rist's narratives read like fairy tales, for example the mix of stories and narratives, characters, plot lines and audience in the catalogue Show a Leg (RIST 2001). If, as Bauman suggested (in his ideas about persona and self reflection in post modernity,) post modern community is increasingly based on a fluctuating sense of self, then is Rist's work mythical or is it the artist that has become the myth through her use of persona?

Rist took her name, Pipilotti, from mixing her Christian name Charlotte with that of the children's' heroine, Astrid Lindgren's orphan 'fanciful pirate princess' (SPAIK 2002) Pippi Longstocking. This created both a new character for the artist and a new existence of a strong, independent female protagonist for her to explore through her work. Freud believed art to be 'fragments of a great confession' (SPECTOR 1972 p.4) so perhaps it is wrong to say that Rist's personas are separate, but that they must be read as a whole, and her work (like the segments of character suggested in her box work) should be read likewise. Alternatively, the recognisability of Rist's assumed identity could be read as a form of branding; the name is original to the artist and correlates directly to her work. Rist’s name sells a type of experience within the gallery beyond that of her notoriety as an artist, but as her background, reputation and personal myth combined. Who, then, really makes this work? Is the artist therefore a carefully produced package used as a marketing tool, or an individualised practitioner?

Can Pipilotti be considered a persona; or is the name merely an indication of Rist's control over her own identity? Does this matter in our appreciation or interpretation of her work? In the article Faking It (2006) Pendle discussed truth in autobiography - and the implications of his criticisms of the literary use of persona and truth also stand true for the visual arts. Pendle questions how the audience - the viewer or the reader - responds to autobiography. This suggests that an audience expects a narrative that relates to the author (in this very direct way) to be wholly truthful, that:
we can appreciate stories only if they are ‘true’? Does it signify that we are losing the ability to suspend our disbelief, to make that essential leap of faith that all communion with art requires?
(PENDLE 2006 p.29)

The artist develops a character in her work, one that echoes herself, and so therefore it may be argued that Pepperminta stands for Pipilotti and Pipilotti, likewise, represents Charlotte. The box work, Pepperminta, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, Boxa Ludens, (RIST 2005) is a collection of artefacts to expand the character of Pepperminta. Whereas the film work for this series depicts Rist’s heroine in her journey, this piece is more like a diary: a private selection of images that the viewer has to explore at their own pace, placing their own meanings to those items found within the box as they are in no set order with no given narrative. In this work, Rist spans the difference between a private and a public myth; what is hidden and personal and what is put on show. By working in film, however, she is able to both create a more complete fictional narrative for the character, yet the definition between reality and fiction is very clear. The actor's interaction with the camera is an example of this, where viewers make assumptions about how to understand or trust the person through their gaze (BROOKER 1997 p.155).

Rist's work not only questions reality in her status as maker, but also debates reality in the regarding of our internal self; our individual moral code and public values:
Rist points out, much of what she was taught to think of as 'timeless' custom is recent invention. [...] Rist is no more concerned to abolish identity than to reaffirm it. Instead, she says, 'I like to question rules but also propose new ones.'
(SCHWABSKY 2004 p.79)
Unafraid to break down her own personal myths and those of her audience and then to rebuild them through her work, the excerpt above explains the belief that myth 'reaffirm[s]' our identity, and so it seems logical that it should be consistent to our culture and contemporary society, for example by creating a mythology of information emphasised by our reliance on technology.

How does Rist's presentation of 'London' discuss reality?

This work is rooted heavily in music and so takes elements from contemporary pop culture, most notably music videos. MTV makes music a commodity as the videos are a neutralised advert for the band - the music and the video are divorced as 'music videos put rock music into an imaginary world' (SMART 1999 p.67). The aesthetic, lustre and pace of her work are closely linked to music; almost celebrating contemporary culture, showing how:
She is fascinated by the physical demands and consequences of such seductive imagery, unpicking how the media and media formats are able to affect our unconsciousness, dreams and desires
(INDEPTH ARTS NEWS 2005)

MTV is a post modern use of video in that it goes beyond boundaries - blurring such oppositions as masculine and feminine or high and low culture (BROOKER 1997 p.14). However, Wollen argues that music videos depict 'the adolescence of postmodernism' (BROOKER 1997 p.225) where these relationships between oppositions are changing. Perhaps this is their nature, in that they are no longer factors in response to each other, but both stand alone and fuse together without comment. This has implications both for the future of MTV and for Rist’s work; both must develop their concerns and format in line with sociological developments, combining these different modes of reality. It has been suggested that the demise of MTV is near, with the rise in popularity of internet sites like YouTube and MySpace which show music videos in a more interactive way, combined with features to personalise the site and network with friends. This may change the type of imaging used in music videos as they become increasingly freed from commercial constraints, and it will be interesting to see if Rist's work will change in its imagery also, and, as she has commented, the similarities between her work and MTV are merely coincidental and not direct references. These websites could be seen as a late post modernist version of MTV - viewing is extremely personalised and controlled by the individual. It seems that Rist's work is open to these changes in the experience of media; for example in 'London' the audience were given a very reflexive environment in which to view the work, they were not simply stood in front of a projection but were given a space within it in which to discover the piece for themselves.

Rist's work creates a new kind of myth within her chosen media, and in doing so exposes the 'real' in a different way.
Rist finds in the 'lousy, nervous, inner world quality' of video a kind of objective subjectivity capable of registering its own physical, psychological and structural conditions and constraints
(SCHWABSKY 2004 p.78-9)
revealing the flaws of the medium as part of its message to the viewer; the flaws aren't edited out but are embraced within the artwork. This could be seen to parallel Freud in some ways, building meaning out of the implicit images within the flaws of her technology relating to Freud's analysis of dreams.

Is reality then defined by its inclusion of this idea of 'the dream', is this what Baudrillard means by hyperreality? 'London' creates a dreamlike environment, which is effective because it provides the audience with an alternative reality. Here, in the centre of the city, gallery goers were taken out of the busy streets and provided with a space to pause and relax. In contrast to the work which depicts Pepperminta entering civilisation, the viewers are taken from civilisation to consider the way in which they interact with their environment and are encouraged to slow down. This differs to other methods of exhibiting which often bombard the viewer with things to look at so that you are guided through a space with less time to think about the work. In this way the relationship between viewer and work is altered and preconceptions about galleries are debated by Rist's work - it provides the audience with a dream instead of a challenge; the experience is easy, informal and enjoyable in a different way to traditional viewing conventions.

The work took the viewer to another reality with another set of rules. The piece drew the viewer in with its use of light and sound, leading the viewer into the work with its use of mirrors and their emphasis on her swirling, engrossing images (see appendix 1). 'In The Solar Anus George Bataille writes that "the two primary motions are rotation and sexual movement"' (ORRGHEN 1998) and both of these themes are dominant in Rist's work, perhaps the primal nature of this imagery is what is so encompassing. It is a constant for all of her audience, whatever their personal context and consequent reading of the work. Rist uses references to the space which she exhibits in, site specificity is important to her work where she reanimates spaces, showing alternative or past uses and creating a fake sense of space; re-enchanting these sites.

Reality in post modernity is not a fixed term. Post modernity has created more freedom within art than those sociological periods before it: artists can now explore reality in a much more open framework, where irrationality is another option in a personal imagery and medium is a reflection of context.

The piece placed the artist into a personal post modern framework, which showed Rist is clearly relevant to this debate in their adoption of personas. However, this characterisation is interesting when compared to post modern ideas; it is contrary to the assertion that we are losing metanarratives, as in this storytelling approach the artists’ attempt to provide an alternative to this loss. This reflects on ideas about community, and how we are developing a society based upon fictional social groupings. However, Rist’s work in contrast uses popular culture in a more subverted form, voiding the post modern ideal of surfaces.

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