Rebecca Horn
Someone suggested that I have a look at Rebecca Horn's work when they say the video of me wearing Body cage, and I can see why! A number of her works feature performances of her wearing sculptures which are completely unwearable, they're hard, cage-like and many of them look like instruments of torture. I'm very interested in the ways she makes her sculptures to relate to the body, her body:
Using blood
Arm and finger extensions
They all seem to limit her physically, yet some of them give her different, and slightly odd, abilities - eg drawing with Pencil mask, picking things up from the floor, Finger gloves
Using blood
Arm and finger extensions
They all seem to limit her physically, yet some of them give her different, and slightly odd, abilities - eg drawing with Pencil mask, picking things up from the floor, Finger gloves
'Unicorn, 1970:
The unicorn was a medieval symbol for purity, chastity and innocence. This work was designed for a performance by a friend of the artist. Horn wrote: ‘the performance took place in early morning – still damp, intensely bright – the sun more challenging than any audience… her consciousness electrically impassioned; nothing could stop her trance-like journey: in competition with every tree and cloud in sight…and the blossoming wheat caressing her hips’. This account emphasises both graceful movement and the element of self-exposure that is often found in Horn’s work.' (Garzon, 2020)
That mystical element, 'trance-like' plus 'the element of self exposure' both resonate with my work too.
'Finger Gloves, 1972
Ideas of touch and sensory awareness are explored in this work. Horn has described how wearing these gloves altered her relationship with her surroundings, so that distant objects came within her reach: ‘the finger gloves are light. I can move them without any effort. Feel, touch, grasp anything, but keeping a certain distance from the objects. The lever-action of the lengthened fingers intensifies the various sense-data of the hand; …I feel me touching, I see me grasping, I control the distance between me and the objects.’ Implicit in the work is the idea that touching makes possible an intimacy between our own body and those of others.' (ibid.)
'Touch and sensory awareness', touch and intimacy... also both evident in my practice.
'Pencil Mask, 1972
Strapped around the face, this mask transforms the wearer’s head into an instrument for drawing. Horn has described wearing it: ‘All pencils are about two inches long and produce the profile of my face in three dimensions…I move my body rhythmically from left to right in front of a white wall. The pencils make marks on the wall the image of which corresponds to the rhythm of my movements.’ The spike-like pencils make this one of Horn’s more threatening works. However, it is linked to the feather masks, as feather quills were also once used for writing.' (ibid)
It makes me think of a scold's bridle, some kind of instrument of torture or control. Some people have said that my Body cage makes them think of that too. There's definitely something threatening about it as well.
'Cockfeather mask, 1973
Horn has described how this mask alters her interaction with others: ‘With the feathers I caress the face of a person standing close to me. The intimate space between us is filled with tactile tension. My sight is obstructed by the feathers. I can only see the face of the other when I turn my head looking with one eye like a bird.’ Through her mimicry of bird movements, Horn suggests the use of plumage as a device for communication and sexual display.' (ibid)
Cockatoo Mask 1973:
Horn described using this mask in a performance exploring ideas of sexual availability and intimacy: ‘My face is covered by two intertwined, closed feather wings. The person standing before me touches the feathers delicately, then separates and opens the wings. The spread wings stretch like long bird wings, and softly enclose around [both] our heads. The feather-enclosure isolates our heads from the surrounding environment, and forces us to remain intimately alone, together.’ The use of the mask is deliberately ambiguous and the performance implies a tension between tenderness and aggression.' (ibid.)
The unicorn was a medieval symbol for purity, chastity and innocence. This work was designed for a performance by a friend of the artist. Horn wrote: ‘the performance took place in early morning – still damp, intensely bright – the sun more challenging than any audience… her consciousness electrically impassioned; nothing could stop her trance-like journey: in competition with every tree and cloud in sight…and the blossoming wheat caressing her hips’. This account emphasises both graceful movement and the element of self-exposure that is often found in Horn’s work.' (Garzon, 2020)
That mystical element, 'trance-like' plus 'the element of self exposure' both resonate with my work too.
'Finger Gloves, 1972
Ideas of touch and sensory awareness are explored in this work. Horn has described how wearing these gloves altered her relationship with her surroundings, so that distant objects came within her reach: ‘the finger gloves are light. I can move them without any effort. Feel, touch, grasp anything, but keeping a certain distance from the objects. The lever-action of the lengthened fingers intensifies the various sense-data of the hand; …I feel me touching, I see me grasping, I control the distance between me and the objects.’ Implicit in the work is the idea that touching makes possible an intimacy between our own body and those of others.' (ibid.)
'Touch and sensory awareness', touch and intimacy... also both evident in my practice.
'Pencil Mask, 1972
Strapped around the face, this mask transforms the wearer’s head into an instrument for drawing. Horn has described wearing it: ‘All pencils are about two inches long and produce the profile of my face in three dimensions…I move my body rhythmically from left to right in front of a white wall. The pencils make marks on the wall the image of which corresponds to the rhythm of my movements.’ The spike-like pencils make this one of Horn’s more threatening works. However, it is linked to the feather masks, as feather quills were also once used for writing.' (ibid)
It makes me think of a scold's bridle, some kind of instrument of torture or control. Some people have said that my Body cage makes them think of that too. There's definitely something threatening about it as well.
'Cockfeather mask, 1973
Horn has described how this mask alters her interaction with others: ‘With the feathers I caress the face of a person standing close to me. The intimate space between us is filled with tactile tension. My sight is obstructed by the feathers. I can only see the face of the other when I turn my head looking with one eye like a bird.’ Through her mimicry of bird movements, Horn suggests the use of plumage as a device for communication and sexual display.' (ibid)
Cockatoo Mask 1973:
Horn described using this mask in a performance exploring ideas of sexual availability and intimacy: ‘My face is covered by two intertwined, closed feather wings. The person standing before me touches the feathers delicately, then separates and opens the wings. The spread wings stretch like long bird wings, and softly enclose around [both] our heads. The feather-enclosure isolates our heads from the surrounding environment, and forces us to remain intimately alone, together.’ The use of the mask is deliberately ambiguous and the performance implies a tension between tenderness and aggression.' (ibid.)
'Exploring the boundaries of the human body, her performances with prosthetics took place in front of a camera and a small circle of collaborators. Actions such as walking upright, balancing a pole, and opening wings were enacted in individual, isolated movements, while Horn choreographed the motions of the performers alongside the processes of veiling and unveiling.
The films created from her performances do more than simply document them – each is narratively structured and contains symbolic motifs. In 1978, as her interest in film widened, Horn shot her first feature-length work, The Gigolo in her New York studio. This was followed by La Ferdinanda in 1981, which was filmed in a Medici mansion, and then Buster’s Bedroom in 1990, as an ode to the slapstick actor Buster Keaton, whom she admired. In these films, special roles were assigned to objects including hatpins, ostrich eggs, and small hammers. For the first time, Horn used machines as actors: yet these protagonists, trapped in mechanical, repetitive actions, were freed from their very status as mere objects by their frenetic activity. After appearing in Horn’s films, these actor-objects were presented as kinetic sculptures in various installations. Detached from the film, they began to tell stories of their own. (Reimann, no date)
The films created from her performances do more than simply document them – each is narratively structured and contains symbolic motifs. In 1978, as her interest in film widened, Horn shot her first feature-length work, The Gigolo in her New York studio. This was followed by La Ferdinanda in 1981, which was filmed in a Medici mansion, and then Buster’s Bedroom in 1990, as an ode to the slapstick actor Buster Keaton, whom she admired. In these films, special roles were assigned to objects including hatpins, ostrich eggs, and small hammers. For the first time, Horn used machines as actors: yet these protagonists, trapped in mechanical, repetitive actions, were freed from their very status as mere objects by their frenetic activity. After appearing in Horn’s films, these actor-objects were presented as kinetic sculptures in various installations. Detached from the film, they began to tell stories of their own. (Reimann, no date)
I think her performances sound quite like mine, in that they explore the 'boundaries of the human body', have 'individual, isolated movements' with a 'process of veiling and unveiling'... I feel as if UI'd like to develop my performances, so that they are longer, but not a full lenghth fil;m. I'd like them to be 'narratively structured and contain symbolic motifs.'
I'm interested too that her sculptures become 'actor-objects' in her films and then have a different role as kinetic sculptures, with their own stories, in her installations. Intriguing!
I'm interested too that her sculptures become 'actor-objects' in her films and then have a different role as kinetic sculptures, with their own stories, in her installations. Intriguing!
Le Guen, reviewing Horn's large exhibition in France in 2019 says:
'At first, space and body are united. Touching the walls with both hands simultaneously (1974-1975) invites visitors to approach the works as extensions that transform the body into an unusual and fantastic being. R. Horn dresses up with pruning accessories that merge into fantasy clothing or with medical restraint devices laced firmly around her waist. The transformation extends to conscience and to tangible space and in doing so questions the notions of identity, gender, intimacy, and rebirth. Her masks, fans and feather gowns generate a renewed relationship to others, both tender and violent, like courtship dances or danses macabres, as can be seen in her films.
R. Horn’s cinematic pieces are dotted throughout the exhibition, focusing predominantly on the artist’s obsessions: the theatre of the subconscious and of untamed eroticism, as well as chaotic music. Her films are designed as choreographed scenes, the uncanniness and expansive emotivity of which are made to pull us away from reality (Buster’s Bedroom, 1990), much like the rest of her works.' (Le Guen, 2019)
Again, this sounds as if her work has similar themes to mine- except possibly the 'untamed eroticism'! I'm interested in her films. I think I need to see if I can find them and watch them. I have been thinking about adding sound to my work so it's intriguing that she uses 'chaotic music.' I can imagine the effect that would have.
'At first, space and body are united. Touching the walls with both hands simultaneously (1974-1975) invites visitors to approach the works as extensions that transform the body into an unusual and fantastic being. R. Horn dresses up with pruning accessories that merge into fantasy clothing or with medical restraint devices laced firmly around her waist. The transformation extends to conscience and to tangible space and in doing so questions the notions of identity, gender, intimacy, and rebirth. Her masks, fans and feather gowns generate a renewed relationship to others, both tender and violent, like courtship dances or danses macabres, as can be seen in her films.
R. Horn’s cinematic pieces are dotted throughout the exhibition, focusing predominantly on the artist’s obsessions: the theatre of the subconscious and of untamed eroticism, as well as chaotic music. Her films are designed as choreographed scenes, the uncanniness and expansive emotivity of which are made to pull us away from reality (Buster’s Bedroom, 1990), much like the rest of her works.' (Le Guen, 2019)
Again, this sounds as if her work has similar themes to mine- except possibly the 'untamed eroticism'! I'm interested in her films. I think I need to see if I can find them and watch them. I have been thinking about adding sound to my work so it's intriguing that she uses 'chaotic music.' I can imagine the effect that would have.
Interesting that her work came out of illness, isolation and grief...
Garzon, M (2020) Rebecca Horn: body art, performance, installations Available at: www.marthagarzon.com/contemporary_art/2012/07/rebecca-horn-body-art-performance-installations/ (Accessed: 9 November 2020)
Le Guen, A (2019) The metamorphoses of Rebecca Horn: between dreaminess, spirituality and surrealism, review Available at: awarewomenartists.com/en/magazine/les-metamorphoses-de-rebecca-horn-entre-onirisme-spirituel-et-surrealisme/ (Accessed: 20 November 2020)
Reimann, S. (no date) How Rebecca Horn expanded the boundaries of the human body Available at: https://www.artbasel.com/news/rebecca-horn-museum-tinguely-koerperfantasien-art-basel (Accessed: 10 November 2020)
Tate (2016) Rebecca Horn – Body Extensions and Isolation | Fresh Perspectives | Tate Collective Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uEkq3IBIf0 (Accessed: 20 November 2020)