I Packed the Postcard in My Suitcase

Partly composed of new works commissioned by ACCA, and partly drawing on the artist’s older works, this unique collection of video installations represents the first major survey of Pipilotti Rist’s works to be shown in Australia.

Through four rooms of integrated installations, Rist takes us on a journey through the elements: fire, water, wind, and earth. Each work is
more than a simple relationship between viewer and screen — gallery space and screen space become creatively entwined into a sumptuous media environment that envelops the viewer and transforms them into participant. Screens are taken off the wall and shifted to unexpected surfaces — from the homely environs of the dining table to the otherworldly regions of a diaphanous, cloudy sky.

The undoubted centrepiece of the exhibition is the ACCA-commissioned, kaleidoscopic work that takes up the main exhibiting hall. Here, two soft carpet piles form islands in the middle of the darkened room, inviting you to lie down, unwind and melt into the sumptuous, hypnotic visuals suspended from the ceiling above.

As the provision of the comfortable, bed-like surfaces and the invitation to remove your shoes implies, this is an exhibition in which to take your time. To rush through is to step out bemused; to let the lapping waters of image wash over you is to indulge in the playful and peaceful experience created by Rist’s imagination. It is to enter a world beyond time and narrative — innocent yet seductive, and only lightly charged with gender and body politics. Welcoming and suitable to a wide range of visitors, the exhibition is guaranteed to delight and ignite.