Between 1968 and 1972, the German artist Rebecca Horn developed a series of performances titled “Personal Art.” Horn ascribes the origins of this work to a single near-death encounter, not unlike Joseph Beuys, an artist with whom she readily claims affinity. In the 1960s, as a young sculptor, Horn experimented with fibreglass and polyester, like many artists of her time. The artist, unaware of the toxicity of these products, experienced serious lung harm accompanied by a lengthy convalescence period.
Horn sketched images of the human body and designs for wearable sculptures, or “body extensions,” limited to drawing in her hospital bed. She then sewed and built these, tailoring them to fit her measurements and those of her friends and collaborators precisely. Horn masks and extensions include, constrain, and/or elongate the bodies of their wearers made of fabric, wood, bandages, belts, feathers, and found objects. To this day, it can be said that Horn is continually building upon this work.
By referencing or even reworking them, she is known to return to earlier artefacts and performances. “In a transformative process, my works are stations,” she said. A “development that has never really been completed.”1
In sketches, notes, and several photographic stills, the earliest, brief performances of Horn’s “Personal Art” were recorded.