A dream dreamt, in a dreaming world is not really a dream… but a dream not dreamt is.
June 7–October 7, 2023
From June 7, 2023, the He Art Museum (HEM) presents Roni Horn’s largest solo exhibition in Asia—Roni Horn：A dream dreamt, in a dreaming world is not really a dream… but a dream not dreamt is. Co-curated by the artist and HEM, this exhibition revolves around her long-standing philosophy, creating uncertain encounters in a de-centered, de-linearized, and de-interpreted space, refusing any dominating narrative to erode the infinite possibilities of the works. The exhibition is shown on the first to third floors of The Museum, presenting 50 representative works from the artist’s career, covering various mediums such as painting, video and sculpture.
Using drawing, photography, sculpture, and artist’s books, Roni Horn’s work consistently questions and generates uncertainty to thwart closure in her work, engaging with many different concerns and materials. Important across her oeuvre is her longstanding interest to the protean nature of identity, meaning, and perception, as well as the notion of doubling; issues which continue to propel Horn’s practice.
For Horn, drawing is a primary activity that underpins her wider practice. Her intricate works on paper examine recurring themes of interpretation, mirroring and textual play, which coalesce to explore the materiality of color and the sculptural potential of drawing. Horn’s preoccupation with language also permeates some of her drawing. Words are her images and she paints them expressionistically, which—combined with her method—causes letters to appear indeterminate.
Notions of identity and mutability are also explored within Horn’s photography, which often consist of multiple pieces and installed as a surround which unfolds within the gallery space. Examples include her series The Selected Gifts, (1974–2015), photographed with a deceptively affectless approach that belies sentimental value. Here, Horn’s collected treasures float against pristine white backdrops in the artist’s signature serial style, telling a story of the self as mediated through both objects and others—what the artist calls ‘a vicarious self-portrait.’ This series, alongside her other photographic projects, build upon her explorations into the effects of multiplicity on perception and memory, and the implications of repetition and doubling, which remain central to her work.
