Ever Is Over All

One wall of the over-corner projection shows a cheerful woman in a turquoise summer dress with high red shoes.{{Cite news |last=Tomkins |first=Calvin |date=2020-09-07 |title=The Colorful Worlds of Pipilotti Rist |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/14/pipilotti-rists-hedonistic-expansion-of-video-art |access-date=2024-02-22 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}

With swinging steps, she walks in slow motion along the sidewalk past parked cars. She swings a crested torch lily and smashes the glass panes of passenger doors with obvious pleasure, followed by a broad smile on her face. A passerby coming towards her looks at her with interest, but does not intervene. A policewoman overtakes her and greets her in a friendly manner.

On the other wall are close-ups of the crested torch lily, flowers and buds in bright colors. In the background a meadow turned 90 degrees to the right appears, on which a person is sitting. This video is not limited to the second wall, but overlaps with the first video.

The sound of the video was created by Anders Guggisberg and Pipilotti Rist. It consists of a slow, repetitive, simple melody, partly accompanied by humming, singing la-la-la and the sound of a pane of shattering glass.Juliana Engberg: A Bee Flew in the Window… In: Massimiliano Gioni, Margot Norton: Pipilotti Rist. Pixel Forest. Phaidon Press, London / New York 2016, p. 15–48, 28.

The video showing the woman lasts four minutes, the other nine; both run in a loop.

The question of whether the artist herself plays the main role in this video was repeatedly raised, bringing the tradition of self-portrait into play.{{citation |author=Sabine Kampmann |date=2006 |isbn=978-3-7705-4356-4 |location=München |pages=175 |publisher=Wilhelm Fink Verlag |title=Künstler sein. Systemtheoretische Beobachtungen von Autorschaft: Christian Boltanski, Eva & Adele, Pipilotti Rist, Markus Lüpertz}} In interviews, however, Rist rejected the interpretation of her works as self-portraits; it should not matter whether she herself acts in the video. In an interview in 2001, the artist stated that the documentary filmmaker Silvana Ceschi played the leading role in Ever Is Over All.Hans Ulrich Obrist: I rist, you rist, she rists, he rists, we rist, you rist, they rist, tourist. Hans Ulrich Obrist in Conversation with Pipilotti Rist. In: Peggy Phelan, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Christiane Bronfen (Hrsg.): Pipilotti Rist. New York 2001, p. 17. Cited according to: Sabine Kampmann: Künstler sein. Systemtheoretische Beobachtungen von Autorschaft: Christian Boltanski, Eva & Adele, Pipilotti Rist, Markus Lüpertz. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München 2006, ISBN 978-3-7705-4356-4, p. 176. A photograph from the time of the production process, which is labeled accordingly, shows Rist's role: she can be seen on it as a darkly dressed person in pants, with glasses and a cap, filming the other person. Peggy Phelan, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Christiane Bronfen (Hrsg.): Pipilotti Rist. New York 2001, Anhang. Cited according to: Sabine Kampmann: Künstler sein. Systemtheoretische Beobachtungen von Autorschaft: Christian Boltanski, Eva & Adele, Pipilotti Rist, Markus Lüpertz. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München 2006, ISBN 978-3-7705-4356-4, p. 176. The little woman in the red coat smiling at the protagonist is the artist's mother, Anna Rist.Juliana Engberg: A Bee Flew in the Window… In: Massimiliano Gioni, Margot Norton: Pipilotti Rist. Pixel Forest. Phaidon Press, London / New York 2016, p. 15–48, 2. Also involved were: Ian Mathys, Aufdi Aufdermauer, Gabrielle Hächler, Tom Rist, Mich Hertig, Gian Wilhelm, Anahita Krzyzanowski, Martin Fischer, Donner Trepp, Christian Davi, Attila Panzel, Manuela Wirth, Brigitte Hofer, Garage Giuseppe Cannizzo, Serge Nyffeler, Meret and Maxi Mars Matter and Gregor Meier.{{citation |author=Änne Söll |title=Pipilotti Rist |date=2005 |pages=142}}

File:Ever Is Over All Instalationview.jpg

Sip My Ocean (1996) is seen as a precursor to Ever Is Over All in terms of the way it is presented. Both combine the performative, slapstick-like aspects of the artist's early works with a more structured form of presentation. Color and viewpoint still play a major role. Ever Is Over All also features close-ups of natural elements, tracking shots and the use of several cameras. But the overall impression is more oriented towards the aesthetics of cinema rather than emphasizing the technical aspects. Fade-ins and jump cuts, for example, take up a much larger space, and there is experimentation with the possibilities of projection and overlapping on a grand scale.Juliana Engberg: A Bee Flew in the Window… In: Massimiliano Gioni, Margot Norton: Pipilotti Rist. Pixel Forest. Phaidon Press, London / New York 2016, p. 15–48, p. 25. These two videos therefore mark the beginning of a new kind of video presentation in Rist's work: Breaking the boundaries of the screen and merging with the architectural conditions of the exhibition space.Margot Norton: Blood-Driven Cameras. In: Massimiliano Gioni, Margot Norton: Pipilotti Rist. Pixel Forest. Phaidon Press, London / New York 2016, p. 155–189, p. 165. Joan Jones understands the type of projection of the video showing nature which does not stop at the corner as a comment on the protagonist's actions: The flower becomes a powerful tool in her hands.

Rist's former assistant Nadia Schneider Willen views the reason for the policewoman's friendliness from a higher perspective: A flower could become the tool of an action perceived as destruction because, from the perspective of a molecule, there is no intentional destruction of things at all, only becoming and passing away.Nadia Schneider Willen: Natur. In: Kunsthaus Zürich (Hrsg.): Pipilotti Rist. Dein Speichel ist mein Taucheranzug. Köln, snoek 2016, o. S. Juliana Engbert, on the other hand, emphasizes the double character of the crested torch lily as a prerequisite for the joke of the video: It is a flower with soft petals on the one hand and a hard stick on the other. The plant's English name, Red Hot Poker, contains poker, which also makes think of poking stick. Under the cheerful surface of the video, anger and aggression smoulder.Joan Jones: Flying Carpets. In: Massimiliano Gioni, Margot Norton: Pipilotti Rist. Pixel Forest. Phaidon Press, London / New York 2016, S. 139–154, 140. Engbert describes Rist as a happy anarchist who conveys pleasure and joy to her audience. This tendency from the early works is continued here. According to Engbert, Rist's involvement of the viewer is the reason why this video is still shown comparatively often.

According to Jones, the red shoes remind of Dorothy's magical red shoes from the film The Wizard of Oz, which can be used to grant wishes.

Rist portrays the female body even more insistently as the subject of the movie look in this work than in earlier works. At the same time, she deals with conventions and limitations of this gaze in an increasingly complex and ambiguous way.Elisabeth Bronfen: Objekt. In: Kunsthaus Zürich (Hrsg.): Pipilotti Rist. Dein Speichel ist mein Taucheranzug. Köln, snoek 2016, cited according to Elisabeth Bronfen: Pipilottis Körperkamera. In: Stephanie Rosenhal: Pipilotti Rist. Augapfelmassage. Ausstellungskatalog Hayward Gallery, London; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen et al. 2012, p. 116–123.

In Rist's art, the feminine has great significance.Brida von Castelberg: XX-Chromosom. In: Kunsthaus Zürich (Hrsg.): Pipilotti Rist. Dein Speichel ist mein Taucheranzug. Köln, snoeck, 2016 It is not in the demarcation from the masculine or in seduction that femininity becomes tangible, but „it is a friendly sexuality that celebrates the pure joy of life." The extremely strong femininity even suspends the laws of physics, so that windscreens can be smashed by a flower. The fire lily has a double connotation: As a flower it retains its connection to the feminine, but in its phallic form it is a symbol of power.Elizabeth Mangini: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3246502 Pipilotti’s Pickle: Making Meaning From the Feminine Position.] In: PAJ. A Journal of Performance and Art. Band 23, Nummer 2, Mai 2001, p. 1–9, 2. Flowers have pollen and stigma, male and female reproductive parts, and in Rist's work they merge female and male imagery, according to Mangini.Elizabeth Mangini: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3246502 Pipilotti’s Pickle: Making Meaning From the Feminine Position.] In: PAJ. A Journal of Performance and Art. Volume 23, issue 2, May 2001, p. 1–9, 4. The policewoman also belongs to two worlds: Wearing a uniform she is part of the patriarchal system, but as a woman she can leave this role and react to the protagonist's action with kindness.Elizabeth Mangini: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3246502 Pipilotti’s Pickle: Making Meaning From the Feminine Position.] In: PAJ. A Journal of Performance and Art. Volume 23, Issue 2, May 2001, p. 1–9, 7.

It was this video, among others, that established Rist's reputation as a feminist artist.{{cite web |access-date=2023-05-24 |author=Laura Barnett |date=2011-09-04 |title=Pipilotti Rist: «We all come from between our mother's legs» |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/sep/04/pipilotti-rist-exhibition-hayward-gallery |website=The Guardian}} She commented that she was a feminist in a political sense, but not in a personal one. The image of the woman in her art stands for the human being as such, not just for the woman. She hopes that a young woman can gain as much from her art as a man. „I always have two answers to the question of whether I am a feminist. If a good person asks me, I am not a feminist. We women have achieved a lot, and always insisting on the rights of our own group seems selfish to me. If a macho man asks me, I will of course say that I am a feminist."{{cite web |access-date=2023-05-24 |date=2018-07-16 |editor=Swiss Art Awards |language=en |title=Pipilotti Rist |url=https://swissartawards.ch/prix-meret-oppenheim/pipilotti-rist-2/}}

In an interview with Massimiliano Gioni, Rist said that the sound of the work should be seen as a kind of homeopathic antidote to the many noises of electrical and electronic devices that surround us. These drive us crazy, and an antidote of the same kind is needed for healing, namely the humming in the video. The idea that art can heal does not frighten her.Massimiliano Gioni: Body Elektric: An Interview with Pipilotti Rist. In: Massimiliano Gioni, Margot Norton: Pipilotti Rist. Pixel Forest. Phaidon Press, London / New York 2016, p. 49–76, 73.

Engberg emphasizes the importance of sound for the effect of the artwork. She stated that this melody with its catchy, heartbeat-like drum rhythm has succeeded in breaking through the fourth wall that separates the artwork from the audience. She observed that the audience showed strong solidarity with the protagonist, the humming suggested safety and security, and when it resumed after the glass broke and a moment of silence, all was right with the world again.Juliana Engberg: A Bee Flew in the Window… In: Massimiliano Gioni, Margot Norton: Pipilotti Rist. Pixel Forest. Phaidon Press / London, New York 2016, p. 15–48, 31.

Mangini points out the difference between the two soundtracks and their intertwining with the image. One melody accompanies the action, the other soundtrack is a light, melodic humming. After a few minutes, not only the speed of the image changes, but also the rhythm of the melody.Elizabeth Mangini: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3246502 Pipilotti’s Pickle: Making Meaning From the Feminine Position.] In: PAJ. A Journal of Performance and Art. Volume 23, issue 2, May 2001, p. 1–9, 5.

According to Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Rist is in this video figuratively helping nature pushed back by cars and roads to regain its right to lost territory. The torch lily invades the space of civilization without being restrained.{{citation |author=Hans-Peter Wipplinger |date=2015 |editor=Hans-Peter Wipplinger |isbn=978-3-86335-705-4 |location=Köln |periodical=Katalog zur Ausstellung Pipilotti Rist. Komm Schatz, wir stellen die Medien um & fangen nochmals von vorne an. 22. März bis 28. Juni 2015. |publisher=Walter König |title=paradeis des wolusts. Zu den audiovisuellen irdischen Paradiesen Pipilotti Rists.}} The second projection of the video, the field of torch lilies, is an expression of the "need for sensual perception" propagated by Rist. This dream-like sequence stands in contrast to the banal world of the street.{{citation |author=Pipilotti Rist in einem Gespräch mit Hans-Ulrich Obrist |date=1998 |issue=36 |page=45 |series=Artforum |title=Rist for the Mill}}

Nava Sevilla-Sadehn sees a reference to the ancient maenads in the video.{{cite web |access-date=2023-05-23 |author=Nava Sevilla-Sadeh |issue=09 |page=60–70 |title=Street Maenadism: Features and Metaphors of Dionysian Ritual in the Work Ever is Over All by Pipilotti Rist |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/695757 |volume=2017 |work=University of Chicago Press}}

According to Engbert, this video is presented with above-average frequency in museums. In 1997, Rist took part in the 47th Venice Biennale with this video and was awarded the Premio 2000 for this work.{{cite web |access-date=2023-05-23 |author=n. n. |title=Pipilotti Rist |url=https://www.shop.nzz.ch}}{{cite web |access-date=2023-05-23 |author=Ruth Händler |title=Biennale Venedig / Eventi collaterali – Etwas für die Schaulust |url=https://www.artlog.net/de/kunstbulletin-7-8-2013/biennale-venedig-eventi-collaterali-etwas-fuer-die-schaulust}}{{cite web |access-date=2023-05-23 |title=Pipilotti Rist |url=https://www.mca.com.au/pipilotti-rist/the-artist |work=mca.com}} In 2006/2007 it was part of the exhibition Out of Time: A Contemporary View at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in 2015 it was shown at the Kunsthalle Krems as part of the solo exhibition Pipilotti Rist. Come darling, let's change the media & start again from the beginning.{{cite web |access-date=2023-05-23 |date=2006 |language=en |publisher=Museum of Modern Art |title=Installation view of the exhibition «Out of Time: A Contemporary View» |url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81191?installation_image_index=0}}

The writer and playwright Sibylle Berg said that Ever Is Over All was the first work by Pipilotti Rist that she had seen. Rist is the heroine of Berg's generation.Sibylle Berg: Böse. In: Kunsthaus Zürich (Hrsg.): Pipilotti Rist. Dein Speichel ist mein Taucheranzug. Köln, snoeck, 2016, o. S. Natasha Bullock, curator of Rist's exhibition Sip My Ocean at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney (2017/2018), also highlights this video as the initial spark of her enthusiasm for the freedom and anarchy that she sees in Rist's work.{{citation |author=Natasha Bullock |date=2017 |editor=Museum of Contemporary Art Australia |isbn=978-1-921034-94-7 |location=Sydney |page=458-487;462 |title=...watch the inside of the heart of the other. |work=Pipilotti Rist Sip my Ocean}}

In 2016, Beyoncé used a similar scene in the music video for the song Hold Up.{{cite web |access-date=2023-05-23 |author=Noa Weisberg |date=2022-10-30 |language=en |title=This Is Madness: Beyoncé and Pipilotti Rist As Maenads |url=https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/beyonce-and-pipilotti-rist-as-maenads/ |work=DailyArt Magazine}}

• [https://rosannejonkhout.com/the-substantiality-of-black-feminism-versus-white-feminism.html Rosanne Ava Jonkhout: The substantiality of black feminism versus white feminism, as illustrated by Beyoncé's appropriation of Pipilotti Rist's Ever is Over All (1997).] 2016.

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Category:Video art

Category:1997 in art