Lucina Ward on Rebecca Horn’s Les Amants (The lovers) 1991

Listen to Lucina Ward, Senior Curator, International Art, speak on Rebecca Horn’s Les Amants (The lovers), 1991. 

German artist Rebecca Horn (1944–2024) came to prominence in the 1980s for her use of performance, installation, sculpture and film in increasingly sophisticated and intertwined ways. The lovers is a drawing machine fuelled by the combination of ink and champagne: when the correct mixture is achieved, a motorised arm sweeps the wall, spraying and dripping ink across the surface. When the painting is complete, the machine rests until the next ‘performance.’

In this talk, Lucina discussed Les Amants (The lovers) as an example of Horn’s practice of blurring sculpture and performance.

Friday Art Talks is a free weekly program. Hear from artists, curators and experts on the works in our collection and exhibition program. In November, the Art Talk program is focused on sculpture.