Roni Horn: Rings of Lispector

Roni Horn’s work ranges from unapologetically pretty color close-ups of striking young faces ( This is Me, This is You ) and darkly patterned studies of the surface of the River Thames ( Dictionary of Water ) to her playful abstractions and wordplay-filled installations inspired by the French feminist theorist and writer, Hªl ne Cixous. Rings of Lispector draws in turn from the work of one of Cixous’s own favorite authors, the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector. Horn has covered a floor with interconnecting rubber tiles and passages from Lispector’s Agua Viva, arranged in rippled circles. The piece reflects on architectural space and poetic force, encouraging viewers to experience the rubber physically underfoot and to view the words from above. This disorienting act of location, characteristic of Horn’s exploration of the possibilities of language as a sculptural form, addresses inner emotions with the idea of landscape. All this is documented in two slipcased volumes, with an essay by Hªl ne Cixous.