Installation view, ‘Roni Horn’ at Hauser & Wirth Menorca, from 11 May to 27 October 2024 © Roni Horn. Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
About ‘Roni Horn’
Roni Horn (b. 1955) is a renowned New York-based artist known for developing conceptual work through photography, sculpture, drawing, installation and literature to address the changing nature of identity, meaning and perception, as well as the notion of doubling.
Horn studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University. After completing her studies, she traveled to Iceland, a country that has had a significant impact on her personal and artistic life. Constantly changing elements such as the weather and water gained importance in her work, supporting Horn’s interest in identity, fluidity as well as ambiguity and paradox.
Roni Horn is inspired by the observation and exploration of the environment; she presents it as a game that is meant to be experienced and interpreted by the audience. ‘I’ve always thought that the real meaning of my work is the experience of it. I can talk about it, of course, but in the end it all depends on you. I know I offer something very specific to look at, but it’s also entirely based in the hope, the wish, the desire that through this relationship, this link, the meaning will emerge in the viewer.’ (Art & Design, 2022).
The artist has exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world, presenting her work in all media, and is considered one of the most important figures of contemporary art at present. She currently has exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth New York and Menorca, Museum Ludwig in Cologne and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk.
What does the exhibition look like?
Roni Horn presents her first solo exhibition in Menorca, featuring a selection of sculptures and installations that interact with the historical gallery spaces and natural surroundings. In the South Galleries, an installation of cast glass sculptures interacts with the surrounding space and light. Additionally, the exhibition presents pieces inspired by the verses of poet Emily Dickinson, along with significant works in gold and copper.
At the center of the exhibition is ‘Untitled (‘A witch is more lovely than thought in the mountain rain’)’ a collection of nine circular sculptures made from solid cast glass. Horn began working on cast glass sculptures in the mid-1990s, with a process of pouring colored molten glass into a mold, which gradually hardens and cools over several months. The result is highly textured sculptures: its sides are rough with the impression of the mould in which it was cast, while its fire-polished top is smooth and shiny, resembling a pool of crystal water. With these sculptures Horn exposes her idea of mutability and fluidity: the works, as water, are in a constant state of change with the movement of light and shadow and the presence of visitors in the architectural space.
Horn explores identity with the solid copper work ‘Black Asphere.’ The work appears to represent a ball, or ‘a sphere.’ However, the term ‘asphere’ is a composition of the term ‘a’ as a negation of sphere, which is a play on words to deny that it is a totally spherical element, without being symmetrical in one axis. In the way that the work is ambiguous, it links to the artist’s experience of androgyny and resistance to binary labels.
The pure gold sculpture ‘Double Mobius, v. 2,’ presents two ribbons in the form of a Möbius strip, which is a geometrical form that appears to be two sided, but only has one side. The piece strips away the layers of cultural significance associated with gold and allows visitors to experience the actual material, in the shape of a strip denoting both intimacy and infinity.
Linked to her interest in integrating language into her works is the series ‘Key and Cue.’ This selection of aluminium bars features the first lines of poems by Emily Dickinson, one of the artists that has inspired Horn the most. In these pieces, Horn renders the text as images, encouraging the viewer to think about language as sculpture, and removing it from its conventional meaning.
Installation view, ‘Roni Horn’ at Hauser & Wirth Menorca, from 11 May to 27 October 2024 © Roni Horn. Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
What are the major themes within the exhibition?
Mutability and fluidity
For Roni Horn nothing is static; everything is mutable and changing. The works appear to be in a constant state of change. The materials used create a dialogue with the space surrounding them, as well as with the visitors and their perception. The meaning of the work is created through this relationship.
Notion of doubling
The artist uses the notion of duplication through duality and repetition as a mechanism to explore themes such as identity, perception and the relationship between the individual and the world. Through repetition and symmetry, she encourages the audience to observe the relationship between form and space.
Identity
Roni Horn focuses on the concept of identity, perception and the self in her works. She exposes identity and its multiplicity, showing that it is an unfixed element that is constantly changing and evolving. In this way, she develops philosophical and introspective questions about the self, gender, emotions and communal identity that are answered in the form of artworks, of which the artist awaits the subjective interpretation of the audience.
Water
Horn appeals to natural elements to represent and connect with concepts such as mutability, doubling and identity. The most frequently used is water. For her, water is a mirror in continuous movement, which denotes the changing identity of things and people and how it connects with the environment. Horn uses water as a metaphor and has said that ‘water receives you, affirms you, shows you who you are.’ (Louisiana Channel, 2012).
Language
Roni Horn introduces language as an essential element in her work. In this way she incorporates text and linguistic elements into her artworks; ‘Words have always very naturally permeated my work, and I’ve never conceived of, nor wanted, nor represented a hierarchy between language and the visual’ (Art & Design, 2022). In this way, she seeks to explore the relationship between language and perception, using phrases, quotes and colloquialisms to capture the viewer’s attention. In addition, she has a special interest in poetry and literature and is inspired by writers such as Emily Dickinson.
Material
The artist is known for using a wide variety of materials, by a sense of experimentation and innovation. This allows her to escape from traditional materials, finding new ways to express her ideas with elements like glass, metal, and gold. In this way, she invites viewers to interact with her work from a sensorial and intellectual perspective, questioning their understanding of materiality and the role it plays in shaping our experience of art. In addition, Horn tries to create a dialogue between materials, shapes and surroundings, playing with light and how it reflects and changes the perception of the works.
Glossary
Ambiguity
The quality of being open to more than one interpretation.
Mutability
Mutability or fluidity is the quality of constant change. Opposite to the idea of a static or rigid condition.
Multidisciplinary
Combining or involving several academic disciplines or professional specializations in an approach to a topic or problem.
Identity
The sense of who one is as an individual and/or in a group.
Installation
Installation art is a genre of contemporary art where the exhibition space is used to create an environment. It goes beyond the limits of classical disciplines, incorporating a wide variety of elements, techniques and technological media (mixing painting, sculpture, text, video, sound, etc.).
Sculpture
Three dimensional artworks created using carving, casting or modelling techniques.
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object. It emerged as an art movement in the 1960s and the term usually refers to art made from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
Installation view, ‘Roni Horn’ at Hauser & Wirth Menorca, from 11 May to 27 October 2024 © Roni Horn. Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
Questions for Discussion
What do you see when you look at your reflection in the water? Do you reflect in the water or does the water reflect in you?
Can you feel identified by an object, landscape, place or work of art like Roni Horn with her work ‘Black Asphere’?
What materials is the work made of? Is the material presence of the artwork important? How would your response to the work change if the artist used a different material?
How does the work relate to the space around it? Are we forced to look at the work from a particular position or in a particular way? Are we made to become conscious of our own position in space?
Practical Activities
Imagine you become an object, what would you be? Think on it and write down why that picture is you. When you have come up with the reasons, create a title for your self-portrait.
Stand in front of the sea. Observe how the tonalities of the water and the play of the sunlight change. Take two photos and visualize the mutability of the water. What stories do you think this sea has lived through? How many lives have been in it?
Supplementary Research
Roni Horn
Interview with Bárbara Rodríguez Muñoz about the exhibition ‘Roni Horn: Me paraliza la esperanza’
