Rebecca Horn is a contemporary German artist, who uses a combination of media including video, performance, installation and sculpture. Horn relates to art & nature and technology, as she has essentially developed her technique using machines and motorized sculptures in her works which relate directly to nature. With the aid of these machines, it has become an important feature of mimicking the natural world and as such “plays on our fears of human becoming overly machine like” - Eleanor Heartney. As seen in the images, Horn has “developed” her practice over the past decade due to the ever-evolving use of the phenomenon of technology.
Horn’s early works consisted of designs and structures for representation of both the human body and natural formation of animals. In her early performances she only used these “body extension instruments” to explore the connection between humanity and animal existence. Later in her career, however, Horn began to use machines in her works, which allowed her to display recognizable human gestures and characteristics in other living forms. This connection not only intersected between humans and animals, but had given the two a shared form in which they could co-exist, as seen in “Twin of the Crow".
Rebecca Horn, Twin of the Crow, 1997.
Crow feathers, metal construction, motor, dimensions variable. Centro Cultural de Belem. Lisbon, Portugal.
However, in Horns recent works, she has discarded her use of the human body all together and is working primarily with machines to replace human presence with kinetic sculptures which take on their own life, as seen in “Butterfly Sculpture”. Horn has conducted a multi-layer of nature, culture and technology to mimic nature’s creations and as such highlights the similarities and unity of the two living systems. “The dynamic and fluid movement of the performers bodies in her earlier performances is replaced by the very slight rhythmic movements and extremely precise mechanised functions of her sculptures” – Sven knudsen
Rebecca Horn, Butterfly Sculpture, 2002.
Metal construction, motor, dimensions variable.
Galerie Jamileh Weber. Zurich, Switzerland (22.09.02 - 11.10.02).
Even more recently, Horn’s inclusion of light, music and mirrors as seen in “Moon Mirror” have become a resonance with technology, evolving with new equipment and are the pinnacle for Horns most technological involved works.
Rebecca Horn, Moon Mirror, 2005.
Mixed Media, dimensions variable.
St Paul's Cathedral, London (27.06.05 – 13.07.05).
Bibliography
Books:
Abbott, Jan. Rebecca Horn Time Goes By. Edition Cantz: Germany, 1993.
A. T, Elizabeth. Rebecca Horn Diving through Busters bedroom. Los Angeles, museum of contemporary art, 1990.
Festpiele, Berliner. Rebecca Horn drawings, sculptures, installations, films 1964 – 2006. Hatje Cantz: London, 2007.
Heartney, Eleanor. Art and Today. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2008.
Stooss, Tino. Rebecca Horn Zurich. Germany publishers: Germany, 1983.
Images/Websites:
Twin of the Crow, http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue73/8150 (accessed 14.05.09)
Butterfly Sculpture, http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://images.artnet.com/ (accessed 14.05.09)
Moon Mirror, http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/assets/wysiwyg/hayward/art_on_site/horn3.jpg (accessed 15.05.09)
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