Lecture 3. 18th February - Body Extensions

In this lecture we looked at the work of Rebeca Horn, who is a renound performance artist, who looks at the senses and extending her body. We were shown a video of some of her work and her discussing her pieces and who are her influences. She spoke about how her grandmother (who passed away before she was born), she said that they moved around a lot and lived a gypsy existence. She creates pieces of work which she wears in her performances, such as Finger Gloves (1972) where she wore extensions of her fingers and dragged them along the walls of a room, depicing how she could touch both walls at the same time, there is also Cockatoo Mask, which she wears in the video which covers the face, blocking sight which then increases the intensity of other sensations such as touch which she explored through the softness of the exterior of the mask. Body extensions and augmentations are all around us, we all have a body and can do with it what we wish, whether it be wearing clothes or glasses to tattooing and peircing the skin. There are even the extremes of plastic surgery in which people change the way they look in a drastic way. if i was to extend my body in any way, i'd like to extend my fingers so that I could reach objects which were out of reach. I like how this artists work has been kept for over 30 years but is such a prominent part of Art in the 21st century.