The Detour of Identity

Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name at the Louisiana Museum of Art, Humlebæk, Denmark, The Detour of Identity reads the work of Roni Horn through the prism of cinema, revealing an intense psychosexuality that is often submerged under its empirical and conceptual character. Images of Horn's photography, sculpture and drawing are presented alongside stills and excerpts from films by Robert Altman, Carl von Dreyer, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alfred Hitchcock and Nicolas Roeg, among others. A foreword by Poul Erik Tøjner, director of the Louisiana Museum, introduction by Jerry Gorovoy, exhibition curator, and essays by cultural critic Elisabeth Bronfen, art historian Briony Fer and novelist Gary Indiana clarify the central importance of film to both the making and understanding of Horn's practice. Words, literature and language are often grasped as keys to Horn's art, but by juxtaposing her work with film this book shows that the body, desire, fantasy and sexuality are equally crucial to her exploration of the instability and mutability of identity.