Rebecca Horn's artwork was concerned with personal and psychological aspects of identity. The artworks featured props and were designed to be worn to exaggerate or constrain some aspect of the body’s anatomy or function. One of Horn's most famous pieces was "Unicorn." "Unicorn" is a video of a woman walking through the countryside for 12 hours wearing a "unicorn" object on her head, extending her head. The woman was a classmate of Horn in art school. "Unicorn" demonstrates Horn’s interest in poetical and mythological figures. The unicorn was a medieval symbol for purity, chastity, and innocence. The unicorn object was constructed from wood, metal, and fabric. It also has straps where the performer would strap it on her body. These straps are almost identical to the ones worn in Frida Kahlo’s painting Broken Column.
This work was designed for a performance by a friend of the artist. Horn describes the woman as "very bourgeois" and "a 21 year old and ready to marry." Horn wrote, "The performance took place in early morning – still damp, intensely bright – the sun more challenging than any audience... her consciousness electrically impassioned; nothing could stop her trance-like journey: in competition with every tree and cloud in sight...and the blossoming wheat caressing her hips." This account emphasizes both on the graceful movement and the element of self-exposure that is often found in Horn's work.
Jeanette Winterson writes, "The drawings for Unicorn, and the costume, are in this exhibition. The retrospective shows the primacy of drawing in Horn's work. There is a mass-market misconception that installation artists do not draw. This is generally not true, but in Horn's case, everything begins with a drawing: Making sketches with coloured pencils is still my favourite pastime. It is exciting to see the drawings alongside the fully realised work, and it is wonderful to see her latest "bodyworks", drawings on paper that spans the height and reach of her own body."
I think in this piece Horn wanted to show the beauty of this women by comparing it to a unicorn, which can symbolize many things. It is also interesting because this piece is a cross between performance and installation art. It also must have been difficult for Horn's friend to walk through the forest and woods naked with nothing but the unicorn object on.
"Rebecca Horn "Unicorn"." Media Art Net (2004). Web. 9 Nov 2009.
"Unicorn 1970." Tate Collection (2002). Web. 15 Nov 2009.
Winterson, Jeanette. "The Bionic Woman." Guardian (2005). Web. 9 Nov 2009.
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