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Rist studied at the Institute of Applied Arts in Vienna, through 1986. She later studied video at the School of Design in Basel, Switzerland. In 1997 her work has been featured in the Venice Biennial for the first time, where she was prized with the Premio 2000. 1988 through 1994 she was member of the music band and performance group Les Reines Prochaines. In 2002 she was invited by Professor Paul McCarthy to teach at UCLA. Pipilotti Rist currently lives with her common law partner Balz Roth, with whom she has a son, Himalaya.
During her studies Pipilotti Rist started to make super 8 films. Her works last generally only a couple of minutes, and altered in their colors, speed, and sound. Her works generally treat issues related to gender, sexuality, and the human body.

Rist, contrasts many other conceptual artists who work in the field of film, her color-rich and musically saturated works transmit a sense of happiness and simplicity. She was initially bumped in with the feminist genre, but has transcended the field on several occasions. I feel aroused sensually and playfully as I watch her videos. She seems to delicately and repeatedly massages my mind with this character of gentleness and vulnerability. Absurdity, in her context, is played and weaved in to a surreal dreamlike aura, which certainly contrasts confusion.