Not a Girl Who Misses Much

Celebrated video artist Pipilotti Rist urges us to get up close and comfortable with our own skin and that of others

- Aaina Bhargava

Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist had a revelation during quarantine about her workout habits. “I’m going to train naked; that’s my thing for the future. I hate the feeling of sweat sticking to my skin; why do we need clothes? There’s less to wash this way too.” This won’t be the last time we talk about nudity.

While some people were driven to distraction during their three weeks of Hong Kong government-mandated quarantine, Rist found it to be oddly valuable. “I thought I would just be jumping around like a wild dog waiting to be let out, but I’ve actually learnt some good things,” the artist tells Tatler over video chat from her hotel room on her last day of quarantine.

That didn’t stop her from heading straight from quarantine to a site visit to test the video projections for her upcoming show Behind Your Eyelid. “There’ll be this kind of ‘wonder-light’ that caresses the bodies of people, dogs and even trees,” she says of the effect of the new works she’s creating for the show, one of which will be projected onto Tai Kwun’s publicly accessible outdoor prison yard. She is set to transform the JC Contemporary galleries into surreal settings with her signature vibrant video installations which are designed to be immersive experiences, rather than just looked at.