I Want to See How You See, Pipilotti Rist; Bick Productions; New Museum of Contemporary Art

Exhibition Label: "Conversation VIII: Serious Play," Jun-2010, Kate Meyer and Susan Earle When we play we have fun.The works on view in this installation have been selected to respond to the video by Pipilotti Rist, I Want to See How You See. Many of these objects draw upon memories of childhood or references to childhood and the body to produce biographic narratives. In many instances, these memories are subversions of the ideal innocence of youth portrayed by fiction. Childhood can be a time of anxiety or repression that informs our experiences as adults. Another theme suggested by the video relates to multiple and distorted perspectives of vision. For his photographs, James Alinder employs a fisheye lens to deliver surrealistic perspectives. For his triptych, Robert Rauschenberg incorporates a distortion-lens camera to produce the central panel, which includes an oval-shaped text that lists the key events and influences in the artist’s life. In Rist’s video, these explorations of perspective appear to link the idea of vision (seeing) with perception (understanding). Employing music, bright colors, figures, and layered images, this video by Pipilotti Rist explores ideas of the body and perspective as macrocosms of humanity and vision. The psychedelic quality of the imagery may help us dislodge our complacency, perhaps allowing us to see in other ways,or as others see.