Homo Sapiens Sapiens by Pipilotti Rist

The experience of watching the art video Homo Sapiens Sapiens by the Swiss born artist Pipilotti Rist could be described as looking into a modern version of a kaleidoscope. Instead of peering into a little hole, viewers absorb Rist’s enchantments by looking up to a huge screen in the ceiling of the museum.

I saw Homo Sapiens Sapiens at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark 2010, but the work was first exhibited in Venice 2005. The video consists of moving images of organic forms in saturated colors that transform continuously in various patterns. As the female bodies either seem to be a part of Mother Nature, or the other way around, the images are scrutinized from micro close-ups to long shots, as well as they are rotated and multiplied in a mechanical way by the usage of computer graphics. Unlike the kaleidoscope, which changes its patterns when it is turned, Rist’s work does not offer any interaction with viewers as they lie passive on the floor and listen to meditation music, mixed with body and environmental sounds that augment the somatic sensation of the work.

The sensuous experience of Homo Sapiens Sapiens gives viewers a good opportunity to study the various forms of the human body and its relation to the nature. It is possible to see samples of the work on the Internet, e.g. on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lanq0jk1mQ. It is though worth noting, that when the video is displayed on a computer screen, the experience of the work is undoubtedly much less intense, compared with watching it on the huge screen of the museum.