The exhaustive presentation of Roni Horn’s work specifically designed for the Botín Centre, in Santander, Spain, closes its doors on Sunday 10 September.

I am paralyzed with hope is a comprehensive and site-specific presentation by American artist Roni Horn, born in New York, in 1955. The exhibition was designed by the artist in response to Centro Botín’s architecture and location on the open bay of Santander, in North Spain.

The artworks on display and their distinct layout reinforce Horn´s practice of being present at the moment, awake to her surroundings and atmospheric variations.

RONI HORN, CENTRO BOTÍN, ph. BELEN DE BENITO

In this spirit, the exhibition invites us to slow down, to be attentive to the pairings and oppositions revealed in each room, and to invest time in the profound dialogue created between space, light, water, and Horn´s quietly radical oeuvre.

The exhibition -curated by Bárbara Rodríguez Muñoz, Director of Exhibitions and the Collection, Centro Botín- spans three decades of Roni Horn´s career through conceptually oriented photographs, drawings, sculptures, and performance. It highlights Horn’s ongoing exploration of the process of becoming in relation to identity and place.

It also includes the first institutional presentation of LOG (March 22, 2019 – May 17, 2020). The series features 406 sheets of drawn paper that function as a record of daily observations and events that have informed the artist’s sensibility and voice.

The artist has traveled extensively across Iceland’s remote, vast landscapes since 1975. These solitary experiences in a geologically young—and therefore changeable— landscape have long been important influences in her life and work. Water and weather are also central to her practice, as their mutability and ambiguous nature mirror our identity, understood as something that is not fixed or stable.

I am paralyzed with hope is complemented by a publication, co-published with La Fábrica, with newly commissioned texts by American author Carmen Maria Machado and Spanish researcher and writer Isabel de Naverán, as well as an exchange between Roni Horn and curator Bárbara Rodriguez Muñoz.

Photo: Belén de Benito