You never forget your first encounter with Pixel Forest. Perhaps the best known work by Swiss video art pioneer Pipilotti Rist, the installation comprises thousands of hand-sculpted LED lights, flickering and glowing in a mesmerising sequence of vivid hues. To step into Pixel Forest is to plunge into a cascade of colour and light. You find yourself immersed in the digital realm, as though you’ve become a pixel on a screen, but, at the same time, you are more aware than ever of your bodily existence, of the joys of sharing this experience with the people around you.
Pixel Forest exemplifies our annual Art Issue, which takes as its theme ‘Art in Flux’. In this time of rapid change, it is apt that we embrace radical visions, so we are delighted to have Rist as our headlining artist, taking over both our newsstand and limited-edition subscriber covers, and presenting a 16-page portfolio that opens our eyes to the weird and the wonderful. It is truly a visual feast, but, as the title of Rist’s current exhibition ‘Behind Your Eyelid’ (at Hong Kong’s Tai Kwun cultural centre until 27 November 2022) suggests, what we make of the work is just as profound.
Rist is among six groundbreaking artists interviewed in this issue. In California, we visit the sprawling studio of Sterling Ruby as he gears up for a solo show at Gagosian New York. Ruby’s practice encompasses ceramics, textiles, video, fashion, sculpture and painting, and this versatility and prolificacy are made abundantly clear when you see his space and works in progress. As he tells writer Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, ‘We’re representative of this kind of Bauhaus historic scenario of everything under one roof.’
Also showing in New York is Wolfgang Tillmans, whose MoMA retrospective combines art and advocacy – we’re particularly pleased that the German photographer has created an exclusive self-portrait for us, revealing his happiness and relief at completing the 16-day show installation process. In Chicago, we call on Nick Cave for a preview of his unconventional collaboration with Knoll Textiles. Meanwhile, in anticipation of the inaugural edition of Paris+ par Art Basel, we speak to Cyprien Gaillard about his ambitious two-part exhibition at Palais de Tokyo and Lafayette Anticipations. And in Berlin, we discover Ian Cheng’s Life After BOB, which taps into the technological and aesthetic potential of artificial intelligence.
Across Wallpaper’s content pillars, we present a number of stories on the intersection between contemporary art and the wider creative industries: the alliance between Stella McCartney and Frank Stella for the former’s A/W22 collection; Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg’s jewellery pieces for Miu Miu; OMA’s striking transformation of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) in New York; and the making of Sydney Modern, SANAA’s extension to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Finally, with Frieze week around the corner, the latest instalment of our monthly Postcard series shines the spotlight on London, which has exciting new architecture, design and gastronomy galore – the perfect accompaniment to our hometown’s varied artistic offerings.
Bill Prince
Acting Editor-in-Chief
INFORMATION
The November 2022 Art Issue of Wallpaper* is available from 6 October in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today (opens in new tab)
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