The Body and its Machines
rebecca horn
biography
She was tought how to draw by her Romanian governess
"We could not speak German. Germans were hated. We had to learn French and English. We were always traveling somewhere else, speaking something else. But I had a Romanian governess who taught me how to draw. I did not have to draw in German or French or English. I could just draw."
Rebecca Horn
march 24, 1944 - september 6, 2024
Rebecca Horn grew up in Hessian Michelstadt (Odenwald) in Germany, born in 1944 in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Her family was wealthy, with a long history of owning a textile factory, which her parents intended for her to take over.
Education
Along her life she lived in many major cities such as: New York, Paris, Berlin, London and Hamburg.
Horn studied economics and philosophy initially at university on the advice of her parents, but after six months she decided to study art in Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts
Themes in her Work
Rebecca Horn’s art focuses on the relationship between the human body, technology, and metamorphosis, exploring themes of vulnerability and healing, desire, and isolation.
Rebecca Horn was one of the most influential artists in international contemporary art. Her work exists at the intersection of sculpture, performance, film, drawing, and installation, characterized by a unique interplay of body, space, and movement.
In 1963 she attended the Hochschule Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts. In 1964, she had to pull out of art school because she had contracted severe lung inflammation due to fiberglass. "In 1964 I was 20 years old and living in Barcelona, in one of those hotels where you rent rooms by the hour. I was working with glass fibre, without a mask, because nobody said it was dangerous, and I got very sick. For a year I was in a sanatorium. My parents died. I was totally isolated."
Art Movements
Contemporary artSurrielism Dada
Arte PoveraPost-Minimalism New Media Art
Perform-ance Art
Kinetic Sculpture
Body Art
Body Art & Wearable Sculptures
Performance and Film
Kinetic Sculpture & Installations
Rebecca Horns most known work Einhorn (Unicorn) 1970
Concert for Anarchy
1990
Schmetterling (Butterfly), 2008
The Feathered Prison Fan 1978
+ info
"You try not to talk about the past too much as an artist. Instead, you focus on the continuity of your work."
- Rebecca Horn
Bibliography:
https://www.artforum.com/features/rebecca-horn-dancing-on-the-egg-207655/
https://teaching.ellenmueller.com/walking/2022/04/09/rebecca-horn-unicorn-1970-2-and-performances-ii-1973/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Horn
https://www.tate.org.uk/collection?aid=2269&tab=collection&page=3
https://rebecca-horn.de/biography
https://www.artcritic.com/en/rebecca-horn-the-body-and-its-machines/
https://www.artasiapacific.com/news/rebecca-horn-1944-2024/#:~:text=Horn%20was%20born%20in%201944,news%20of%20her%20parents'%20passing.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/sep/19/rebecca-horn-obituary#:~:text=In%201963%20she%20enrolled%20at,her%20grandfather's%20former%20textile%20factory.
https://www.artera.ae/artworks/55f0e8a7-62b9-42bd-9639-c7cb75aba0b0
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1595571
https://www.frieze.com/article/were-all-flutter-about-rebecca-horn
Body Art
Body art is art in which the artist uses the human body as the primary medium. Emerging from the context of Conceptual Art during the 1970s, Body art may include performance art. Body art is likewise utilized for investigations of the body in an assortment of different media including painting, casting, photography, film and video. More extreme body art can involve mutilation or pushing the body to its physical limits.
Performance Art and Film
Performance art is a time-based art form where artists use their live actions, body, and presence to convey conceptual meaning, typically unfolding in real-time before an audience. Emerging prominently in the 1960s/70s as a challenge to traditional, static art, it often rejects conventional theater narratives in favor of experimental, often ephemeral, experiences that bridge art and life.
-A short clip out of her 1978 film Der Eintänzer (The Gigolo). running time: 47 minutes.
The Feathered Prison Fan 1978
Design: The piece consists of a large, circular motorized frame covered in white peacock feathers.
Function: It is designed to completely envelop a person. When the fan closes, it forms a "prison" of soft feathers that hides the body from view, often leaving only the feet visible.
The sculpture was featured in Horn's 1978 film Der Eintänzer (The Gigolo). It also appears in her 1981 film La Ferdinanda: Sonate für eine Medici-Villa.
Kinetic Art
Kinetic art is art from any medium that contains movement perceivable by the viewer or that depends on motion for its effects. Canvas paintings that extend the viewer's perspective of the artwork and incorporate multidimensional movement are the earliest examples of kinetic art. More pertinently speaking, kinetic art is a term that today most often refers to three-dimensional sculptures and figures such as mobiles that move naturally or are machine operated. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. Kinetic art encompasses a wide variety of overlapping techniques and styles.
Schmetterling (Butterfly), 2008
The Butterfly is a kinetic installation featuring brass, plasticized butterfly wings, and an electric motor housed within a Plexiglas box. The work belongs to her broader thematic exploration of fragile beauty, mechanical movement, and the soul
The butterfly in Horn's work is often associated with the mythical "migratory soul" (psyche) and symbolizes the transformation of the everyday into something magical or valuable, akin to alchemy.
Concert for Anarchy
1990
A grand piano is suspended upside down from the ceiling by heavy wires attached to its legs. It hangs solidly yet precariously in mid-air, out of reach of a performer, high above the gallery floor.
-Dissonance and Chaos
-Mechanical Performance
-Cinematic Origins
-Physical Tension
Einhorn 1970
Wood, fabric and metal“Unicorn is a white sculpture designed to be worn by a female performer. A series of vertical and horizontal white fabric straps serve as a kind of bodice that binds the performer’s naked body, with further straps connecting the neck to a tall, conical, horn-like structure that extends vertically from the top of the performer’s head. In an interview in 1993 Horn explained the development and original manifestation of this work, one of her earliest sculptures for the body:
Inspired by Frida Kahlos painting "The Broken Column" 1944.
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Transcript
The Body and its Machines
rebecca horn
biography
She was tought how to draw by her Romanian governess
"We could not speak German. Germans were hated. We had to learn French and English. We were always traveling somewhere else, speaking something else. But I had a Romanian governess who taught me how to draw. I did not have to draw in German or French or English. I could just draw."
Rebecca Horn
march 24, 1944 - september 6, 2024
Rebecca Horn grew up in Hessian Michelstadt (Odenwald) in Germany, born in 1944 in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Her family was wealthy, with a long history of owning a textile factory, which her parents intended for her to take over.
Education
Along her life she lived in many major cities such as: New York, Paris, Berlin, London and Hamburg.
Horn studied economics and philosophy initially at university on the advice of her parents, but after six months she decided to study art in Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts
Themes in her Work
Rebecca Horn’s art focuses on the relationship between the human body, technology, and metamorphosis, exploring themes of vulnerability and healing, desire, and isolation.
Rebecca Horn was one of the most influential artists in international contemporary art. Her work exists at the intersection of sculpture, performance, film, drawing, and installation, characterized by a unique interplay of body, space, and movement.
In 1963 she attended the Hochschule Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts. In 1964, she had to pull out of art school because she had contracted severe lung inflammation due to fiberglass. "In 1964 I was 20 years old and living in Barcelona, in one of those hotels where you rent rooms by the hour. I was working with glass fibre, without a mask, because nobody said it was dangerous, and I got very sick. For a year I was in a sanatorium. My parents died. I was totally isolated."
Art Movements
Contemporary artSurrielism Dada
Arte PoveraPost-Minimalism New Media Art
Perform-ance Art
Kinetic Sculpture
Body Art
Body Art & Wearable Sculptures
Performance and Film
Kinetic Sculpture & Installations
Rebecca Horns most known work Einhorn (Unicorn) 1970
Concert for Anarchy 1990
Schmetterling (Butterfly), 2008
The Feathered Prison Fan 1978
+ info
"You try not to talk about the past too much as an artist. Instead, you focus on the continuity of your work."
- Rebecca Horn
Bibliography:
https://www.artforum.com/features/rebecca-horn-dancing-on-the-egg-207655/
https://teaching.ellenmueller.com/walking/2022/04/09/rebecca-horn-unicorn-1970-2-and-performances-ii-1973/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Horn
https://www.tate.org.uk/collection?aid=2269&tab=collection&page=3
https://rebecca-horn.de/biography
https://www.artcritic.com/en/rebecca-horn-the-body-and-its-machines/
https://www.artasiapacific.com/news/rebecca-horn-1944-2024/#:~:text=Horn%20was%20born%20in%201944,news%20of%20her%20parents'%20passing.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/sep/19/rebecca-horn-obituary#:~:text=In%201963%20she%20enrolled%20at,her%20grandfather's%20former%20textile%20factory.
https://www.artera.ae/artworks/55f0e8a7-62b9-42bd-9639-c7cb75aba0b0
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1595571
https://www.frieze.com/article/were-all-flutter-about-rebecca-horn
Body Art
Body art is art in which the artist uses the human body as the primary medium. Emerging from the context of Conceptual Art during the 1970s, Body art may include performance art. Body art is likewise utilized for investigations of the body in an assortment of different media including painting, casting, photography, film and video. More extreme body art can involve mutilation or pushing the body to its physical limits.
Performance Art and Film
Performance art is a time-based art form where artists use their live actions, body, and presence to convey conceptual meaning, typically unfolding in real-time before an audience. Emerging prominently in the 1960s/70s as a challenge to traditional, static art, it often rejects conventional theater narratives in favor of experimental, often ephemeral, experiences that bridge art and life.
-A short clip out of her 1978 film Der Eintänzer (The Gigolo). running time: 47 minutes.
The Feathered Prison Fan 1978
Design: The piece consists of a large, circular motorized frame covered in white peacock feathers.
Function: It is designed to completely envelop a person. When the fan closes, it forms a "prison" of soft feathers that hides the body from view, often leaving only the feet visible.
The sculpture was featured in Horn's 1978 film Der Eintänzer (The Gigolo). It also appears in her 1981 film La Ferdinanda: Sonate für eine Medici-Villa.
Kinetic Art
Kinetic art is art from any medium that contains movement perceivable by the viewer or that depends on motion for its effects. Canvas paintings that extend the viewer's perspective of the artwork and incorporate multidimensional movement are the earliest examples of kinetic art. More pertinently speaking, kinetic art is a term that today most often refers to three-dimensional sculptures and figures such as mobiles that move naturally or are machine operated. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. Kinetic art encompasses a wide variety of overlapping techniques and styles.
Schmetterling (Butterfly), 2008
The Butterfly is a kinetic installation featuring brass, plasticized butterfly wings, and an electric motor housed within a Plexiglas box. The work belongs to her broader thematic exploration of fragile beauty, mechanical movement, and the soul
The butterfly in Horn's work is often associated with the mythical "migratory soul" (psyche) and symbolizes the transformation of the everyday into something magical or valuable, akin to alchemy.
Concert for Anarchy 1990
A grand piano is suspended upside down from the ceiling by heavy wires attached to its legs. It hangs solidly yet precariously in mid-air, out of reach of a performer, high above the gallery floor.
-Dissonance and Chaos
-Mechanical Performance
-Cinematic Origins
-Physical Tension
Einhorn 1970
Wood, fabric and metal“Unicorn is a white sculpture designed to be worn by a female performer. A series of vertical and horizontal white fabric straps serve as a kind of bodice that binds the performer’s naked body, with further straps connecting the neck to a tall, conical, horn-like structure that extends vertically from the top of the performer’s head. In an interview in 1993 Horn explained the development and original manifestation of this work, one of her earliest sculptures for the body:
Inspired by Frida Kahlos painting "The Broken Column" 1944.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit