The
visual and audio installation by Pippilotti Rist titled “Selbstlos im Lavabad
(Selfless in the Bath of Lava)” has found a permanent home at the Moma PS1 in
Queens. This very small piece of art is
embedded in the floor of the lobby. This video was first exhibited in Basel,
Switzerland in 1994. In a later exhibition in Zürich, Switzerland, the video
was shown at the foot of a Madonna and Child sculpture. In the video, Rist is featured
naked swimming in a glowing lava bath and cries out “I am a worm and you are a
flower!” It catches people off guard because it is so small yet loud enough to
hear while standing by it. You have to search for the small hole to see where
the voice is coming from.
This
piece is very interesting to me. I enjoy a lot of Rist’s work and this one
especially brings about an important social issue. From research, I learned
that Rist was brought up Christian and once she grew up rejected the religion.
She did not like the way Christianity made people think they are less than
other beings (God). This particular piece refers to the religious notion of
damnation. In Christian belief, damnation is the condemnation to eternal
punishment in hell. I think when making “Selfless in the Bath of Lava”, she
could have been thinking about how people might feel like others are better
than them and how that makes people feel very small, like depicted in this tiny
visual installation. Her screaming out to people who would be just walking by
also indicates that she is hoping for someone who is higher up than her (God) to
stop and rescue her from eternal damnation in the small hole.
Pipilotti
Rist is definitely a unique character. This piece evokes a lot of feelings
especially if you are someone who believes in Heaven and Hell. If you do
something that is considered to be a sin you are casted to Hell which is just
fire and rock and you are never allowed to leave. When this belief is taught to children it can
shape how they act, think, feel and view themselves. Having God as an overseer
to your life and telling you how life should be conducted can make one feel
very restricted or even controlled. Knowing that Rist is a free spirit who
promotes self-love and recognizes the beauty in all things natural I can
confidently say that “Selfless in the Bath of Lava” can be viewed as how not to
live one’s life. To live life in fear of eternally living out your afterlife in
Hell would waste the wonderful experiences and natural process of growing up
and making mistakes. If more people believed that it is not necessary to
totally outcast people when they do something that doesn’t fit a requirement of
the Bible or another religion then there might not be so many self-conscious people.
I am not sure exactly if this is what Rist intended for her viewers to think
about but I think regardless it is important for people of all ages to recognize
that they are human and will make mistakes and will survive through the
consequences of their actions and hopefully learn from them without being held
in an eternal Hell by themselves, or by other people or other Gods.
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