Blauer Leibesbrief

Pipilotti Rist’s installation Blauer Leibesbrief, leads us into an enchanted forest. Sunlight breaks through the green canopy of leaves and falls upon the body of a naked woman resting on a bed of twigs and leaves on the forest floor. The camera wanders curiously, almost tenderly, from the woman’s head to her toes, exploring the body with its elevations and depressions. The figure is adorned with colorful cut glass stones that reflect the surrounding light. This meditative, peaceful mood is accompanied by an esoteric electro soundtrack. 
The woman seems to be at one with both herself and the nature surrounding her. Nevertheless, the question arises as to how the body came to be where it is, why it is lying there and whether the woman might possibly be dead. The Blauer Leibesbrief leaves these questions open but offers many possible interpretations. Yet, above all, the work is a homage to the human body. Rist first exhibited it in 1992 as an installation projected diagonally onto the wall together with the Roter Leibesbrief, on two monitors. A poem was projected on a third monitor. Later, Rist only presented the Blauer Leibesbrief on its own and always from a distorted perspective on a colored wall with an elliptical projection surface. The installation invites visitors on a journey of discovery of the human body. By playing with the juxtaposition of sharpness and blurriness, proximity and distance and surprising angles and shifts in size, Rist stirs the viewer’s curiosity.