Biography

She already had her stage name as a child and is based on Pippi Longstocking, the main actress in Astrid Lindgred's children's book of the same name. From 1982 to 1986 she lived in Vienna, where she studied commercial art, illustration and photography at the University of Applied Arts. In 1984 she began her first performance works. Even her early Super 8 films were characterized by technical effects such as color distortion or changing speeds. From 1988 she trained for two years in audiovisual communication, in the field of video, at the Basel School of Design. Since then, her artistic focus has been working with videos and video installations. In 1997 she was honored with the Premio 2000 at the Venice Biennale. In the same year she took over the artistic responsibilities of the Swiss national exhibition Expo.01 as director. From 1988 she dedicated herself to music and played in the women's band and performance formation "Les Reines Prochaines" for six years, and she also released a few records.

During this phase, she also laid the foundation for her reputation as a provocative video artist and pop icon through the emphasized sensual effects in her works. The themes of her works include differences between the sexes, the image of the feminine body and sexuality. Her early film works include the title "I''m Not The Girl Who Misses Much" from 1986, which uses different speeds, blurring, unusual coloring and collage techniques to be irritating and at the same time attentive want to focus on the attitude to life of a time. In the film she dances to Beatles music, but in contrast to her dance moves, it is much faster. She achieved her international breakthrough with the title "Pickelporno" from 1992. In it, Pipilotti Rist presents an initial sequence of scenes with dramatic crime thriller elements, which then dissolves into intoxicating body images. She chooses an exceptionally strong close-up perspective that seems to analyze the body parts down to the skin and at the same time exaggerates them enormously for the viewer.

With "Pickelporno" the artist sets herself the task of figuring out how sexual feelings can be made visible. Her other works include Ever is Over All (1997), Open My Glade (2000) and Himalaya's Sister's Living Room (2000). She completed her first feature film "Pepperminta" in 2009 after four years of work. Pipilotti Rist can look back on numerous awards and honors, recent ones including best architects Award, Cutting the Edge Award (both 2010), Best Exhibition Of Digital, Video, or Film: "Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)" at Museum of Modern Art, New York, 26th annual awards, The International Association of Art Critics (AICA), President of the Jury's EXTRAORDINARY AWARD, Joan Miró Prize, Barcelona, (all 2009), St. Gallen Culture Prize of the St. Gallische Kulturstiftung (2007) or Guggenheim Museums Young Collector''s Council Annual Artist''s Ball honoring Pipilotti Rist (2006).

Pipilotti Rist lives in Zurich with her partner and child.
- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth

Has a son named Himalaya Roth with her boyfriend Balz Roth.

Pipilotti (born Elisabeth Charlotte) Rist combined her childhood nickname, Lotti, with the first name of the Swedish children's story character Pippi Longstocking to create her artistic moniker in 1982, shortly before entering art school.