Rebecca Horn Introduction of Works
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REBECCA HORN INTRODUCTION OF WORKS • Parrot Circle, 2011, brass, parrot feathers, motor t = 28 cm, Ø 67 cm | d = 11 in, Ø 26 1/3 in Since the early 1970s, Rebecca Horn (born 1944 in Michelstadt, Germany) has developed an autonomous, internationally renowned position beyond all conceptual, minimalist trends. Her work ranges from sculptural en- vironments, installations and drawings to video and performance and manifests abundance, theatricality, sensuality, poetry, feminism and body art. While she mainly explored the relationship between body and space in her early performances, that she explored the relationship between body and space, the human body was replaced by kinetic sculptures in her later work. The element of physical danger is a lasting topic that pervades the artist’s entire oeuvre. Thus, her Peacock Machine—the artist’s contribu- tion to documenta 7 in 1982—has been called a martial work of art. The monumental wheel expands slowly, but instead of feathers, its metal keels are adorned with weapon-like arrowheads. Having studied in Hamburg and London, Rebecca Horn herself taught at the University of the Arts in Berlin for almost two decades beginning in 1989. In 1972 she was the youngest artist to be invited by curator Harald Szeemann to present her work in documenta 5. Her work was later also included in documenta 6 (1977), 7 (1982) and 9 (1992) as well as in the Venice Biennale (1980; 1986; 1997), the Sydney Biennale (1982; 1988) and as part of Skulptur Projekte Münster (1997). Throughout her career she has received numerous awards, including Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße (1979), Arnold-Bode-Preis (1986), Carnegie Prize (1988), Kaiserring der Stadt Goslar (1992), ZKM Karlsruhe Medienkunstpreis (1992), Praemium Imperiale Tokyo (2010), Pour le Mérite for Sciences and the Arts (2016) and, most recently, the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Prize (2017). A first mid- career retrospective of her work was organized in 1993 by the Guggen- heim Museum, New York, traveling to the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Kunsthalle Wien, Tate Gallery and Serpentine Gallery, London, and the Musée de Grenoble. A second retrospective was presented at the Hayward Gallery in London in 2005. Another retrospec- tive took place at Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin in 2006. Rebecca Horn has been living in Paris and Berlin since 1981, following dearly a decade in New York. During 2019, two major exhibitions of her work took place simultaneously at Centre Pompidou Metz and Museum Tinguely in Basel. Concert for Anarchy, 1990 Piano, hydraulic rams and compressor 150 x 106 x 156 cm | 59 1/16 x 41 3/4 x 61 2/5 in 2,3 Installation at Tate Modern BODILY EXTENSION In Rebecca Horn’s first performances, the so-called Body Extensions, the artist explores the equilibrium between body and space. The starting point for these performances are transitory body sculptures, designed by Horn as extensions of her own extremities as a means to extend the proportions of her own body and thus change her self-perception. The performing subject uses the specially constructed instruments in order to capture and make the surrounding environment tangible, and to ultimately to conquer and inhabit the space. By contrast and in a reverse move, in Overflowing Blood Machine (1970) she renders the mechanical pulsing of the inside of the body as a circulating, functional process exemplified by our blood circulation. The performing body is strapped into several plastic hoses through which pumps a red liquid. The contrast between the pumping machine and the stillness of the body generates a tension that will also become fundamental in many of Horn’s later machine works—in which she exemplifies and isolates a certain movement within a process. White Body Fan, 1972 (photograph by Achim Thode) Silver gelatin print 80 x 60 cm | 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in 4,5 above Fan, 1970 Ink and crayon on paper Framed: 48 x 38 x 4 cm | 18 9/10 x 15 x 1 3/4 in left Mechanical Bodyfan, 1973-74 (photograph by Achim Thode) Silver gelatin print 80 x 60 cm | 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in 6,7 above Unicorn, 1968-69 Graphite on paper Framed: 48 x 38 x 4 cm | 18 9/10 x 15 x 1 3/4 in right Unicorn, 1970 (photograph by Achim Thode) Silver gelatin print 80 x 60 cm | 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in 8,9 above Untitled, 1968-69 Graphite and crayon on paper Framed: 48 x 38 x 4 cm | 18 9/10 x 15 x 1 3/4 in right Overflowing Blood Machine, 1970 Glass, metal, plastic and water pump 167 x 72 x 43 cm | 65 3/4 x 28 11/32 x 17 in Installation at Museum Tinguely, 2019 10,11 BERLIN-ÜBUNGEN IN NEUN STÜCKEN In cooperation with Berliner Festspiele from 1974 to 1975, Rebecca Horn produced the video Berlin-Übungen as staged performances for the cam- era: Touching the Wall with Both Hands / Blinking / Feathers Dancing on Shoulders / Grasping Unfaithful Legs / Two Little Fish Recalling a Dance / Touching Spaces while Reflecting / Shedding Skin between the Moist Tongue Leaves / Cutting Hair with Two Pairs of Scissors at the Same Time. These performances include oscillating explorations of space and the body, an attempt to communicate with a parrot, and surreal experi- ments with images and sound in a pre-war apartment in Berlin. The first of the exercises begins as a survey of the room with the artist wearing scissor-like gloves. While she paces up and down the room, the walls on both sides are touched simultaneously. The exercises end with a radical gesture by the artist: Horn cuts off her long hair using two pairs of scissors in parallel, while the male voice-over speaks about the mating behavior of male snakes. Although mainly known as a contemporary visual artist, Rebecca Horn has also worked in film, directing the movies Der Eintänzer (1978), La ferdinanda: Sonate für eine Medici-Villa (1982) and Buster’s Bedroom (1990). right Measure Box, 1970 Ash wood, screws, steel 375 x 365 x 400 cm | 147 2/3 x 143 2/3 x 157 1/2 in following pages What Could Make Me Feel This Way (A) 1993 Laminated and bent wood 280 x 560 x 485 cm | 9.2 x 18.4 x 15 ft 12,13 Collection Sprengel Museum, Hanover above Finger Gloves, 1972 Fabric, wood and metal 97 x 21 x 4 cm | 38 3/16 x 8 1/4 x 1 9/16 in right Finger Gloves, 1972 (photograph by Achim Thode) Gelatin silver print 80 x 60 cm | 31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in following pages Scratching Both Walls at Once, 1974-75 Fabric, wood and metal 14,15 7 x 174 x 4.5 cm | 2 3/4 x 68 1/2 x 1 3/4 in BIRDS AND OTHER ANIMALS Many of Rebecca Horn’s works reference or mimic animals. Cockfeather Mask (1973) comprises a narrow strip of fabric-covered metal bent into the shape of a facial profile and covered with glossy black feathers. Straps, which fasten around the head, meant the piece could be worn over the face like a mask. When worn, the feathers protruded from the performer’s head at a perpendicular angle. The performer could only see through either side of the feathered protrusion, which also covered the nose and mouth and extended under the chin. Writing in 1973, Horn explained how interper- sonal interaction was central to this piece: “Slowly I turn my face to the person standing opposite me and begin to stroke them with my feathered profile. The feathers entirely fill the space between our faces and restrict my vision. I can only see the face opposite me when I turn my head to the side, and look with just one eye, like a bird.” As one of the youngest artists to ever participate in documenta in 1982, Horn presented her Peacock-Machine, an expansive, motorized sculpture installed in the pavillon of Kassel’s palace garden, which per- forms cyclical movements. Slowly spreading out and collapsing, the pea- cock seems to expand and contract its tail again and again. Its recur- rent states of tension and relaxation—of energies that build up and run down—seem to reproduce themselves endlessly. In the installation Ballet of the Woodpeckers (1986), small hammers tap mirrors like birds startled by their own reflection. It was originally installed in a psychiatric hospital in Vienna. Long-term patients experi- enced it alongside external visitors. To recall the presence of the patients when the work was moved, Horn added two glass funnels filled with mer- cury. The liquid metal shivered in response to the vibrations of footsteps. Mercury is highly toxic and was later replaced by reflective foil for safety reasons. Cockfeather Mask, 1973 Feathers, metal and fabric 61 x 15 x 33 cm | 24 x 6 x 13 in Tate Collection 18,19 Die sanfte Gefangene (La douce prisonnière), 1978 Ostrich feathers, wood, metal construction, motor, pastels and acrylic paint on paper 200 x 83 x 32 cm | 78 3/4 x 33 x 13 in above and right Peacock Machine, 1979-80 Aluminum, steel, electric motor H 280 cm, Ø 560 cm | H 110 5/8, Ø 220 1/2 in following pages Ballet of the Woodpeckers, 1986 Glass, metal, tranformers, motors and egg Dimensions variable 22,23 Tate Collection KINETIC SCULPTURES Following the physical experience of Rebecca Horn’s performances with body extensions, masks and feather objects, in the 1970s came the first kinetic sculptures, which also featured in her films.