Rebecca Horn: Light Imprisoned in the Belly of a Whale

by Jacques Roubaud, Hayden Danyl Chisholm (Artist), Rebecca Horn (Artist)

In 1997 French poet and mathematician Jacques Roubaud wrote 53 poems for Rebecca Horn. Inspired by this poetry, the German artist created sculptures of light in which words wander through dark spaces, weave through murkiness and form an intertwined network, a firmament of text. In a bath of black water, the poems reflect each other, dissolving within the waves, allowing new signs to arise. A song sung in dialogue with a whale, composed and performed by New Zealand-born jazz musician Hayden Danyl Chisholm, accompanies these visual transformations. This elegant volume contains the work of all three exceptional artists, with Roubaud's lyrical texts written in their complete format; Horn's piece represented in installation photographs; and Chisholm's composed, congenial sequences recorded on audio CD.

64 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2003

About the author

Jacques Roubaud was a French poet, writer and mathematician.