Pipilotti Rist Opens MOCA Geffen

MOCA Geffen has reopened with a long-postponed Pipilotti Rist show. It's not the Geffen you remember—Rist has transformed most of the interior into a walk-through pop-up attraction, or a simulation thereof. Though it's a mid-career retrospective, with 30 years of work, you might not know it. Early and independent works are seamlessly integrated into the Gesamtkunstwerk, which includes elements made for this presentation. There are no labels, just number cues on the floor.

Rist adopted her first name from Pippi Longstocking, briefly studied physics in Vienna, and taught at UCLA on Paul McCarthy's recommendation. As seen here, she might be described as an intimist, creating domestic environments and complicating them with projected eye candy. A space near the Geffen's entrance evokes a Southern California backyard with outdoor furniture, patio umbrella, landscaping, and hose. 

Another space uses video projections to create a sense of jamais-vu: the opposite of deja-vu, the feeling that familiar objects are strange. The feeling is particularly powerful with a rumpled bed, transformed into a luminous, gelatinous, galactic kaleidoscope. You're welcome to try out the bed. 

A tablecloth and dinner sets become a screen for a concentrically expanding movie that starts as Oskar Fischinger and ends up something messier and more complicated. I want this for my next dinner party.   

"Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor" (through June 6, 2022) is organized by MOCA's Anna Katz with Karlyn Olvido. It's a special ticketed exhibition, meaning an exception to MOCA's free admission. General admission is $18, and that allows a second visit. 

PS. MOCA has moved its big Nancy Rubins sculpture from Grand Ave. to a new site at the Geffen. Apparently lost in the move was the colony of birds that took up residence in the sculpture.

Nancy Rubins, Chas' Stainless Steel, Mark Thompson's Airplane Parts, About 1,000 Pounds of Stainless Steel Wire, and Gagosian's Beverly Hills Space at MOCA, 2001