WATCHOUT in pioneering video art exhibition

“Pipilotti Rist: Pixel Forest” at New York City's New Museum was the most comprehensive presentation to date of the work of Pipilotti Rist, the pioneering Swiss video artist.

New York-based WorldStage provided AV support for the exhibition, working in tandem with the New Museum staff to install and commission equipment for the complex set of video artworks. The team chose a Dataton WATCHOUT system to handle content playback in several areas of the multi-gallery exhibition, running on a large complement of projectors – from Panasonic PT-RZ970 10,000 lumen units to Christie HD14K and HD10K M-Series projectors.

Rist's career is in some ways a reflection of the medium itself, moving from early single-channel videos of the 1980s, to immersive environments featuring imagery of water and plant life. “We’ve enjoyed working with Pipi and her team very much in the past and this experience was no different,” says Lars Pedersen, WorldStage account manager. “Her work is such an important part of the media art collection and creates such a unique and powerful environment, that it’s very gratifying to be part of her team.”

With throngs of people waiting in block-long lines for admission, the exhibition was an unmitigated success with the general public. The critics also fell for the experience with the New York Times calling it “a rapturous fusion of lights, sights and music that ebbs and flows through the museum’s main gallery floors.”