Roni Horn

The American Roni Horn (1995) is one of the artists De Pont Museum has been following since the museum opened in 1992. Horn explores themes such as mutability, identity, perception, nature and the effects of time. Anyone looking through her oeuvre for simple answers to big questions will come up empty-handed. Horn’s works encourage the viewer to patiently observe, feel and contemplate. 

Since the 1980s, Horn has been developing sculptural forms which have evolved into poetic installations and photographic series. Her conceptual and often minimalist work is characterised by repetition and subtle variation. It elicits a powerful silence that invites reflection. Her work often emerges only in dialogue with the space. Horn herself refers to this quality as being ‘site-dependent’. The viewer’s perception – how you see and experience objects while looking at them – is an essential part of the work. Each and every viewing experience is unique.

Well-known works include her massive cast-glass sculptures, which are rough on the sides but smooth and reflective on top. Ten of these objects were displayed in the central hall of De Pont Museum during her 2016 solo exhibition. Her interest in enigmatic forms created from materials with unusual surface textures is also evident in a work in the Museum’s collection entitled Pair Field. 

Nature, and the rugged landscape of Iceland in particular, is another recurring source of inspiration. Horn creates photographic series in which she records the same subject – often a person or natural element – from a variety of angles or at different times. An example of this is You are the Weather, a series of portraits in which she explores the effects of time and how change occurs.