Roni Horn. You Are the Weather
until
“You Are the Weather” by Roni Horn consists of 100 pictures of a young woman—slightly larger-than-life. The photographs were all taken in hot springs in Iceland. Through her eyes, her facial expressions, and the reflections of light on her skin, the unknown bather’s face reflects the weather (and her internal emotions). At the same time, the gaze of the subject portrayed reflects back on the viewer themselves, which might be what the title is alluding to.
Exhibition info
until
Upper floor
Dr. Monika Bayer-Wermuth
Notice
Due to remodeling, the exhibition will be temporarily closed until September 12.
About the exhibition
The artist said of the sitter that “those changes, that range of emotion—she looks like she’s irritated, like she’s angry—were in fact provoked by the weather. It’s the sun in her eyes, it’s snowing, it’s windy. When you are in the room with her it’s as though you’ve provoked those responses: you become the weather.” The work speaks of intimacy, affection, and desire, of the impossibility of ever really capturing a face, and of the power dynamics inherent to a portrait situation.
The photo series consists of 36 gelatin silver prints and 64 chromogenic colour prints and is one of the best-known works by Roni Horn (b. 1955 in New York). It was created in July–August 1994 on a joint trip with Margrét H. Blöndal and was published as an artist’s book in 1997. Horn has been visiting the island regularly since 1975—she describes herself as a “chronic tourist.” Many of the artist’s works revolve around life there. The topos of water runs through her oeuvre; for example, she has also created a series of works on the Thames.
