Fig 1. Earth Seed (2012)
Fig.2. House of Pain (2005)
Fig.3. Waiting for Absence (2005)
Fig.4. Untitled (Head Extension) (1971)
Fig.5. Pencil Mask (1972)
Fig.6. Finger Gloves (1972)
Fig.7. Berlin exercises in nine pieces: Exercise 1: “Touch the walls with both hands at the same time” (1974)
Notes
Horn’s diverse body of work was bound together by a consistency in logic; each new work appeared to develop stringently from the preceding one. Elements may be readdressed, yet appear in totally different, divergent contexts. In her first performances, the body-extensions, Horn explored the equilibrium between body and space.(Kelly, s.d)
Following the physical experience of her performances with body extensions, masks, and feather objects of the 1970s were her first kinetic sculptures, as well as large, site-specific installations to honor places charged with political and historical importance. With her kinetic sculptures created during this time, the artist released and rediverted the weight of the past onto the physical spaces (Kelly, s.d.)
The objects used in Horn’s sculptures, including violins, suitcases, batons, ladders, pianos, feather fans, and metronomes, move beyond their defined materiality and are continuously transposed into ever-changing metaphors touching on mythical, historical, literary, and spiritual imagery. Each of Horn’s installations was a step towards breaking down completely the boundaries of space and time, offering glimpses of a materially liberated universe (Kelly, s.d.)
Horn’s Bodylandscape drawings, produced between 2003 and 2015, translated the interest in exploring the limits of the body present in her sculptures and performances to the medium of drawing. Scaled to the proportions of her body, these large drawings limited Horn’s mark-making to reach of her arm; yet Horn produced energetic and innovative works with this formal constraint. (Kelly, s.d.)
Specific, sensory, off-kilter (however sincerely meant, the image of a headless chicken is as comic as it is horrid): this description is the perfect distillation of Horn’s work, which frequently utilised animals and machines to figure out the absurdity of being human. (Jana, 2024)
Most spells of all-consuming sickness prompt only the most cursory self-reflection, if that. But for Horn, it set up a lifelong interest: what emotional freedoms could be found in being separated from the world and longing for what it held?….Wanting to be seen and touched is a very powerful urge, but so is wanting not to be (Jana, 2024)
With Horn’s early works, it’s easy to suggest that they are one of two things: cumbersome (restricting movement, cutting the wearer off from others) or freeing (extending the body’s capabilities, opening new lines of communication). (Jana, 2024)
In a 1994 interview, Horn said of the girl who performed her Unicorn piece that ‘by being turned into a prisoner, she freed herself inside’. This freedom could be understood quite simply as the loss of inhibition; the understanding that the world’s implied codes of conduct are easily broken. But it also represented a state of psychological and sensory change. Horn wanted to set off chain reactions, jolting both her performers and her audiences out of complacency and into deeper, more complicated assessments of themselves and the world around them. (Jana 2024)
List of References
Sean Kelly (s.d) Rebecca Horn At: https://www.skny.com/artists/rebecca-horn (Accessed 18/05/26)
Jana, R (2024) How Rebecca Horn (1944-2024) Broke the Feminine Body Apart At: https://artreview.com/how-rebecca-horn-1944-2024-broke-the-feminine-body-apart/ (Accessed 18/05/26)
List of Illustrations
Fig.1. Horn, R. (2012) Earth Seed [Graphite, coloured pencil and acrylic paint on paper] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/horn-earth-seed-t14889 (Accessed 04/05/26)
Fig.2. Horn, R. (2005) House of Pain [Graphite, coloured graphite and acrylic paint on paper] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/horn-house-of-pain-t13809 (Accessed 04/05/26)
Fig.3. Horn, R. (2005) Waiting for Absence [Graphite, coloured graphite and acrylic paint on paper] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/horn-waiting-for-absence-t13808 (Accessed 04/05/26)
Fig.4. Horn, R (1971) Untitled (Head Extension) [Ink on paper] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/horn-untitled-head-extension-t12790 (Accessed 04/05/26)
Fig.5. Horn, R (1972) Pencil Mask [Fabric, Pencils and Metal] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/horn-pencil-mask-t07847 (Accessed 04/05/26)
Fig.6. Horn, R (1972) Finger Gloves [Fabric, Wood and Metal] At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/horn-finger-gloves-t07845 (Accessed 04/05/26)
Fig.7. Horn, R (1974) Berlin exercises in nine pieces: Exercise 1: “Touch the walls with both hands at the same time” At: https://artreview.com/how-rebecca-horn-1944-2024-broke-the-feminine-body-apart/ (Accessed 04/05/26)