3. Pipilotti Rist EVER IS OVER ALL Analysis

Ever Is Over All

Ever Is Over All is the first Pipilotti Rist piece that I had the pleasure of seeing.

The blend of irony, nature and comedy immediately gripped me.

The piece is surreal. The video is in slow motion, alongside an eerie, captivating soundtrack created by Rist herself. The videos are projected onto a wall corner, meaning that it is not perfectly aligned, and the right half of the imagery spills over onto the floor, which makes it look offset, surreal and “wrong”. There is an air of uncertainty about the piece from first glance.

As the piece progresses, we see an incredibly feminine woman appearing very happy and cheerful, holding one of the flowers in the opposite panel like a baseball bat. She uses the flower to smash the windows of cars as she passes by, like a weapon.

This is a sudden shock, which could be seen as confusing or amusing / entertaining.

Viewers would not have expected violence, let alone with a flower (flowers are usually delicate and gentle, but here, it is strong enough to break windows).

The woman appeared to be equally gentle and innocent, until the point that she turns to violence.

There is a sense of irony behind the fact that something so gentle can cause such casual destruction, and then continue as if nothing was ever amiss.

This sense of shock and surrealism is supported by the way that a female policewoman observes the woman vandalising cars, but walks past her with a big smile on her face, and even nods hello. This is the point that viewers realise that this video portrays an alternate universe, where things may work oppositely to expected. On the other half of the projection, flowers fill the screen, innocent, still and natural.

I think that this art piece is incredibly powerful due to the conflicting messages, that cause viewers to question what they know and understand about what they are seeing.

This piece could be described as uncanny.

I am interested in exploring themes of nature, and irony. Pipilotti's use of playful violence is something I would like to explore.