White Body Fan

White Body Fan

I think the following quote explains the description of Horn's artwork the best, "While Rebbecca Horn's more recent work has been determined by a poetical deployment of mechanical constructions, this object – a metal construction measuring 300 cm in diameter – belongs to the film 'Performances II’, 1973, in which Rebbecca Horn was preoccupied still with extending her own body into space". (www.medienkunstnetz.de/.../img/data/373/bild.jpg)

now i am going to describe the content of this art work in my own words, or more or less, i am going to tell you what i take from this piece of art. The outfit looks to me like something you would see in a mental institution, and the fact that she has built herself a "fan" that looks more to me like wings makes me question weather or not she is attempting to fly. But like i have said in the past i do not take from the "art work" what the artist really wants me to i guess.

These are a few of Horn's other art pieces that remind me of this one because they are also body extensions. "Besides the 'White Body Fan’, body extensions also figured in the performances 'Einhorn' ('Unicorn'), 'Kopf-Extension' ('Head Extension'), 'Bleistiftmaske' ('Pencil Mask'), 'Meine Hand kann fliegen' ('My Hand Can Fly'), 'Gavin', 'Hahnenmaske' (Cockfeather Mask'), 'Fingerhandschuhe' ('Finger Gloves') and 'Kakadu-Maske' ('Cockatoo Mask'). She produced a variation on this work with the action 'Mechanischer Körperfächer' ('Mechanical Body Fan') in 1974". (www.medienkunstnetz.de/.../img/data/373/bild.jpg)

Now i have not seen all of these pieces of work but i have seen the 'pencil mask' which is a cone that she puts over her face and 'finger gloves' which is a glove that has gigantic fingers on it that are like several feet long.

Large Feather Fan

Large Feather Fan, 1973

"Horn produced a series of filmed performances incorporating body sculptures and extensions, masks and feathered objects/costumes. Over the next decade these fanciful creations developed into the wearable kinetic sculptures documented in films such as The Feathered Prison Fan in Der Eintänzer (1978) or The Peacock Machine in La Ferdinanda (1981)." (Real Time issue #73 June-July 2006 pg.44 realtime@realtimearts.net )

"However, as Horn’s practice evolved, she completely replaced the human body with mechanical constructions and kinetic sculptures. The dynamic and fluid movement of the performers’ bodies in her earlier films is replaced by the very slight rhythmic movements and extremely precise mechanised functions of her sculptures. In a final step, this exhibition displays these as individual artworks. " (Real Time issue #73 June-July 2006 pg. 44 realtime@realtimearts.net)

This art work of Horn's is a better direction for her i think. The body extensions were "her" but the sculptures she does are a little more agreeable to my taste. i think this piece is very creative and the fact that she uses feathers is really intriguing to me because i find feathers to be very beautiful.

The only thing that turns me off about this piece is after seeing her 'White body fan' that is now what this piece reminds me of because of the shape and it reinforces my thinking that she is trying to build something for herself to fly with.

Bee's Planetary Map

Bee's Planetary Map, 1998.

This piece is my favorite of Horn's, it really makes me think alot more then other works of art i have been exposed to this quarter. For me it really hits home and pulls a string in my heart unlike any other art before.

A good description of this artwork is "sixteen inverted straw baskets, looking for all the world like beehives, were suspended from the ceiling at various heights. Inside each basket was a light bulb, casting pools of light on the floor. On the floor beneath each basket was a circular glass mirror which now and then swiveled, catching the light and reflecting it in constantly moving circles and oblongs on the walls and ceiling. Throughout the room you could hear a recording of the insistent buzzing of a swarm of bees. Topping it all off, every few minutes a small rock attached to a cable fell from the ceiling to hit a cracked mirror on the floor, around which were strewn pieces of broken glass. This repetitive, destructive act was disturbing but also raw and cathartic. On one wall could be found a poem by Horn, providing an excellent textual counterpoint: «The bees have lost their equilibrium / They swarm in dense clouds high above / Their luminous basket hives are deserted / One of their centres is being destroyed forever anew....»" (findarticles.com)

"At their best (and this installation was a good example), Horn's works are dramatic and theatrical but also poetically engaging, in a way that gets to you on numerous levels simultaneously. Here, the notion of bees loosed from their hives to permanently wander unseen evoked ideas of dislocation, rootlessness and nomadism--perhaps a subtle reference to current crises in places like Kosovo. At the same time the installation had a dreamlike, mythic quality suggestive of primal fears and longings: the desire for safety and order, or the desire for unencumbered release." (findarticles.com)

I chose the quote above because i think the translation it brings out of this artwork is beautiful and lovely. The only problem is when i look at just the picture i can't get the full effect and i find it hard to get that translation myself, i simply see beehives in a room with a bunch of light reflecting off of all the walls. But after hearing the description of everything going on i can see how they compare it to something of chaos because of all the lights bouncing and glass breaking, but when you just look at a picture of it you don't get that effect.

I honestly don't know another artwork to compare this piece to but i do have something to compare it to. My life, is like this room with all the lights bouncing off the walls and floors it reminds me of all the good and bad memories i have in my life that bounce around in my head. And all the breaking glass reminds me of all the hard times i have had to break my way through to make it where i am today. And the quote on the wall all too well describes me and my families relationship, it has been thrown out of equilibrium, cloudy and destroyed.