Bug’s Life 2

Touch. Taste. Hear. See. Smell. The MOMA’s newest installation is Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist’s Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters) in which our very conception of the difference between reality and fantasy is blurred. The project took almost two years to perfect and was finally opened to the public late last month in the museum’s second floor atrium. With the use of video projectors, speakers and a circular sofa, the installation seems like a simple endeavor yet there’s more to the installation than meets the eye.

Pipilotti Rist has created a monumental installation that’s immersed the Marron Atrium’s enormous space with twenty-five-feet-high moving images accompanied with a surround sound system of sorts. Those who have been to the MOMA before know just how spacious the atrium is but, now imagine the four walls of the atrium covered in way larger-than-life videos with you standing in the middle of it all. Situated at the center of the atrium is a large circular sofa that from above looks like the human eye. Patrons are invited to lounge on these sofas while the six-minute video reel plays footage of different perspectives and elements from nature. The most interesting part of the whole experience that you feel as if you’re a looking at everything from a bug’s point of view because the video is projected to be more than ten times our size while showing various actions such as flowing water or clawing at mud. With the speakers built beneath the iris-shaped sofa, Rist chose a soundtrack mix of what she calls “body sounds” or nature sounds and a soft melody that transports you to a relaxing spa. Combine the two medias of sound and picture together and you get an out-of-body experience drifting along with the moving images and music. The ultimate effect of this installation is rather soothing and comfortable: if only there weren’t so many people around to add their own soundtrack. “Pour Your Body Out” invokes sensations that you’d never imagine unless you visited for yourself. Even with the lack of scents or materials to touch, taste or feel, this mini escape is able to touch on these senses while leaving an unattainable and unfulfilled feeling. Although everyone has mixed reactions towards the piece(including my friend who thought it was utterly pointless), I’d say its definitely worth the experience because it never hurts to try. :]