Two Pipilotti Rist Videos

A few years back I was in Paris and had just finished a fairly terrible argument with my girlfriend. I packed my bags and moved into some dive run by a loose knit family of North Africans near Le Parc Monceau in the 18th. Nice people. In any event I felt a new sense of freedom and spent two days in the Pompidou Center alone. Rarely when traveling do I get to revisit museums two days in a row, and it was worthwhile. On one of the floors I discovered a video center which keeps a database of art videos, an offering previously unknown to me. There were lots of cubicles with computers and monitors on which to download a very good selection of work by artists I'd always wanted to see. I spent hours watching things and being thoroughly engrossed. One such video was "I'm not a girl who misses much." I love the way she dances, like a Shirley Temple wind-up doll gone berserk with her tits sticking out and her arms flapping akimbo. In my mind, I suppose I connected some dots to feminist iconography and hyper-activity in striving toward fulfillment, but really I just liked the motion of her dancing (fast and slow). When John Lennon finally sings it's somehow a huge relief and the lyrics help fill in some empty gaps of context. Interestingly, she only stays with the original song and normal speed for a short duration before diving back into the necessary life of our woman/dancer/artist/modern life enthusiast. I'd like to dance with her, all crazy and childish and unrestricted.



I advise turning the volume high when watching this one. It seems mixed rather timidly, but it works well with the images if cranked a little louder. This video is also by the Swiss artist Pipolotti Rist, entitled "Lullaby." The haunting song was composed by Coroline Berkenbosch who works and lives in the Netherlands. Rist herself may be the singer, but I don't know for certain. The song is titled 'Swan.' I found a thread to an album which includes the song: "Soundtracks de las Videostalaciones de Pipilotti Rist," on the Subterfuge label. I doubt that it's easy to find, but a place called Cornerhouse in Manchester, England seems to have it, or a similar compilation with the same song included.