(Dis)Orientation Identity, Landscape and Embodiment in the work of Roni Horn A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Art History at the University of Canterbury by Barbara A. C. Garrie UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY 2012 (Dis)Orientation Identity, Landscape and Embodiment in the work of Roni Horn. Barbara Garrie ii Dedicated to the memory of my Dad. John Brunton Garrie 1946-2012 iii Abstract This thesis considers the links between identity and landscape in key works by American artist Roni Horn, focusing on a selection of her photo-installations and books. In particular it argues that Horn approaches landscape as a performative category through which to address the performativity of identity, and that in doing so her work privileges the viewer as an embodied participant. Drawing on a feminist approach grounded in phenomenology, the thesis locates androgyny as a key structuring principle in the artist’s work. Identifying herself as neither male nor female, Horn employs the notion of in-between-ness to negotiate gender binaries of male/female and to describe the indeterminate and contingent nature of androgynous being. Importantly, the thesis argues that Horn addresses these issues of identity by staging experiences in her work that invite the viewer to perform the very processes by which identity is defined and played out. This strategy is examined through concepts of doubling, the sublime, horizons and dwelling, each of which in their own way involve a sense of orientation and disorientation that gestures toward the in- between-ness of androgyny. The thesis also considers the tensions between visuality and embodiment in Horn’s work. Her use of photographic images within an installation practice is one that establishes a complex set of relations between the opticality of the photograph and the actuality of ‘real’ space. It is argued that the experiential potential of Horn’s photo- installations and books is only realised through the dialectical relation between visuality and embodiment in which both are equally privileged. iv Contents vi Acknowledgements vii List of Illustrations 1 Introduction 13 Chapter One Somewhere In-Between: The Performance of Androgyny 50 Chapter Two On the Surface of Things: An Androgynous Sublime 88 Chapter Three Perspectives on the Horizon: Subjective Perception 119 Chapter Four A Dwelling Perspective: The Act of Placing 158 Conclusion 165 Bibliography 177 Illustrations v Acknowledgements I would like to thank the members of my supervisory team; Dr Morgan Thomas and Dr Jo Diamond. Special thanks to Dr Greta Bond, Dr Melinda Johnston, Tjalling de Vries and Jan Saville for all your amazing help and support, especially in the last few months. Financial assistance in the form of a PhD Canterbury Scholarship and the Ethel Rose Overton PhD Scholarship from the University of Canterbury were gratefully received. Funding from the New Zealand Education Commission was also important in enabling my visit to the major retrospective exhibition of Roni Horn’s work, ‘Roni Horn aka Roni Horn’ at Tate Modern, London, in 2009. Finally, a big thankyou to my friends and family who have been so encouraging of me. To my parents in particular: Dad, you gave me your inquisitive nature and the ability to laugh at myself when things get too serious – so very important in thesis writing! I miss you and I wish you were here to see this project completed. Mum, over the last few months you have revealed yourself to be a tower of strength and have taught me why it is that we keep on going even when things are tough. You have my greatest admiration. Couldn’t have done it without you both! vi List of Illustrations Cover Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) (detail) (1999). 15 offset lithographs. Introduction Images Fig. I Roni Horn, Becoming a Landscape (detail) (Gottingen: Steidl, 2001). 2 Vols. Book VIII of To Place (1990–2007). Fig. II Roni Horn, Becoming a Landscape (detail) (Gottingen: Steidl, 2001). 2 Vols. Book VIII of To Place (1990–2007). Fig. III Roni Horn, Becoming a Landscape (detail) (Gottingen: Steidl, 2001). 2 Vols. Book VIII of To Place (1990–2007). Fig. IV Roni Horn, Becoming a Landscape (detail) (Gottingen: Steidl, 2001). 2 Vols. Book VIII of To Place (1990–2007). Fig. V View of Ben Ledi, Callander, Scotland (2009). Colour photograph. Fig. VI Roni Horn, Pi (detail) (1998). Four wall installation of 45 Iris printed colour and black and white photographs. vii Chapter One Images Somewhere In-Between The Performance of Androgyny Fig. 1.1 Roni Horn, Asphere I (1986–88). From the Asphere series (1986– 2001). Solid forged and machined copper. Fig. 1.2 Carolee Schneemann, Interior Scroll (1975). Screenprint with handwriting in beet juice, coffee and urine. After a performance at the Telluride Film Festival Colorado, East Hampton, New York, 1975. Fig. 1.3 Judy Chicago, Menstruation Bathroom (1972). Mixed media installation for ‘Womanhouse’, AIR Gallery, New York, 1972. Fig. 1.4 Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #3 (1977). Silver gelatin print. Fig. 1.5 Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still # 2 (1977). Silver gelatin print. Fig. 1.6 Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of my Face) (1981). Silver gelatin print. Fig. 1.7 Donald Judd, Untitled (1965). 10 copper units. Fig. 1.8 Carl Andre, 144 Magnesium Squares (1969). 144 Magnesium tiles. Fig. 1.9 Robert Morris, Untitled (L Beams) (1965). 3 painted plywood forms. Fig. 1.10 Richard Serra, One Ton Prop (1969). Steel. Fig. 1.11 Roni Horn, Untitled (1976). Graphite dispersal on floor. No longer extant. Studio installation, Yale School of Art, New Haven, Conneticut. Fig. 1.12 Roni Horn, Untitled (Soft Rubber Wedge) (1977). Rubber. Studio installation, Yale School of Art, New Haven, Conneticut. Fig. 1.13 Roni Horn, Ant Farm (1974–75). Oak, glass, earth, and ants. Studio installation, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island. Fig. 1.14 Eva Hesse, Accession II (1967–1969). Galvanised steel, plastic. Fig. 1.15 Janine Antoni, Chocolate Gnaw (1992). Gnawed chocolate on marble base. Fig. 1.16 Roni Horn, Things That Happen Again, Pair Object VII (For a Here and a There) (1986–1991). 2 solid forged and machined copper forms. Installation view, Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas. Fig. 1.17 Roni Horn, Ellipsis (I) (1998). 64 Iris-printed photographs. viii Fig. 1.18 Roni Horn, Ellipsis (II) (1998). 64 Iris-printed phtographs. Fig. 1.19 Roni Horn, Rings of Lispector (detail) (2004). Rubber floor tiles. Installation view, Hauser & Wirth London, London, 2004. Fig. 1.20 Juergen Teller, Roni Horn (2009). Colour photograph. Fig. 1.21 Roni Horn, aka (detail) (2008–2009). 15 Paired photographs. Fig. 1.22 Roni Horn, aka (detail) (2008–2009). 15 Paired photographs. Fig. 1.23 Roni Horn, aka (2008–2009). 15 Paired photographs. Installation view, ‘Roni Horn. Photographien / Photographic Works’, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, 2011. Fig. 1.24 Roni Horn, You are the Weather (1994–1995). Four-wall installation of 100 photographs (36 Silver gelatin prints and 64 C- type prints). Installation view, ‘Roni Horn aka Roni Horn’, Tate Modern, London, 2009. Fig. 1.25 Christian Boltanski, Ten Photographic Portraits of Christian Boltanski; 1946–1964 (1972). 10 Black and white photographs mounted on board, frames, handwritten text. Fig. 1.26 Roni Horn, Pi (detail) (1998). 45 Iris-printed photographs. Installation view, ‘Roni Horn aka Roni Horn’, Tate Modern, London, UK, 2009. Fig 1.27 Roni Horn, Pi (detail, Hildur and Bjorn) (1998). 45 Iris-printed photographs. Fig. 1.28 Roni Horn, Portrait of an Image (Isabelle Huppert) (2005). 100 C- type prints. Installation view, 'Roni Horn aka Roni Horn', Collection Lambert, Avignon, France, 2009. Fig 1.29 Roni Horn, Portrait of an Image (Isabelle Huppert) (2005). 100 C- type prints. Installation view, 'Roni Horn aka Roni Horn', Collection Lambert, Avignon, France, 2009. Fig. 1.30 Roni Horn, aka (2008–2009) and Asphere V (1988/1993). Installation view, ‘Roni Horn aka Roni Horn’, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France, 2009. ix Chapter Two Images On the Surface of Things An Androgynous Sublime Fig. 2.1 Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) (detail) (1999). 15 offset lithographs. Fig. 2.2 Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) (detail) (1999). 15 offset lithographs. Fig. 2.3 Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) (detail) (1999). 15 offset lithographs. Fig. 2.4 Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) (detail) (1999). 15 offset lithographs. Fig. 2.5 Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) (detail) (1999). 15 offset lithographs. Fig. 2.6 Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) (detail) (1999). 15 offset lithographs. Fig. 2.7 Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (1818). Oil on canvas. Fig. 2.8 Roni Horn, Another Water (The River Thames, for Example) (Santa Fe, New Mexico: SITE Santa Fe and Lannan Foundation, 2000). Front cover. Fig. 2.9 Roni Horn, Another Water (The River Thames, for Example) (Santa Fe, New Mexico: SITE Santa Fe and Lannan Foundation, 2000). Page layout. Fig. 2.10 Aerial View of Marfa and the Chinati Foundation, 2001. Photographer Florian Holzherr. Fig. 2.11 Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames for Example) (1999). Installation view, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, 2000. Fig. 2.12 Roni Horn, Pooling – You (detail) (1996). 7 Photolithographs. Fig. 2.13 Roni Horn, Pooling – You (detail) (1996). 7 Photolithographs. Fig. 2.14 Roni Horn, Pooling – You (detail) (1996). 7 Photolithographs. Fig. 2.15 Roni Horn, Pooling – You (detail) (1996). 7 Photolithographs. Fig. 2.16 Roni Horn, Pooling – You (detail) (1996). 7 Photolithographs. Fig. 2.17 Roni Horn, Pooling – You (detail) (1996). 7 Photolithographs. Fig. 2.18 Roni Horn, Pooling – You (detail) (1996).