As for whether the Gift Horse is a memorial or a monument, if you like, you can take it as a tribute to the City, the Wall Street of London."įollowing its successful presentation in London and based on discussions with Haacke, Haus der Kunst will present Gift Horse in the museum's monumental Middle Hall as a way to further develop a response to public representations of power that are common in many European public squares and buildings. This Marquess was twice a Whig prime minister of England and, according to Wikipedia, 'exceptionally rich even by the standards of that wealthy group'. I then discovered that a portrait of Whistlejacket, a rearing Arabian horse – commissioned by its owner, Charles Watson-Wentworth, the second Marquess of Rockingham – was hanging in the center of a major gallery of the National Gallery, just behind Trafalgar Square. But I had no idea that Stubbs, the son of a tanner, had personally dissected horses, and had published engravings of his findings in The Anatomy of the Horse. I knew paintings by Stubbs of horses and the English horseback-riding gentry from visits to the Tate. She directed me to The Anatomy of the Horse by George Stubbs. Having no experience with horse skeletons-I believe I am not unique in this regard-I asked a librarian whether she knew of any relevant publications. Part of the proposal for the Fourth Plinth was the inclusion of an image of what it eventually would look like. Mine was to be a horse skeleton, adorned with a live decoration-and no rider. (I am not the first of the Fourth Plinth artists to do that). After scrapping several ideas, I thought it might be appropriate to allude to the custom of immortalizing rulers on horseback. George IV, whose equestrian statue graces the plinth in the northeast corner, had spent so much money during his reign that there was not enough left for his successor, his younger brother William IV, to also get a ride on a bronze horse. The plinth had been empty for more than 150 years. Meticulously researched, the sculpture directly references the equestrian statue of William IV originally planned for the plinth and signifies the connection between wealth, power, and history.Īccording to Haacke, the genesis of his proposal was explore the relationship of the monument to representations of political: "I was one of six artists invited to submit proposals for the Fourth Plinth on the northwest corner of Trafalgar Square. An electric ribbon is fastened to the horse's front leg and broadcasts a live ticker of the London Stock Exchange, which in Munich will be substituted with live broadcasts from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In this way, Gift Horse could not be more timely.īased on an etching by the English painter George Stubbs, Gift Horse is a bronze cast of an equine skeleton without a mount. Originally commissioned by the City of London as the tenth contribution for the "Fourth Plinth" on Trafalgar Square, the project opened amidst controversies surrounding the excesses of the City government and economic austerity during the financial crisis and is also linked to current social and political conditions across the world. Haacke has lived and worked in New York since 1965.Haus der Kunst is proud to present Hans Haacke's celebrated monumental sculpture, Gift Horse (2015). He won the prestigious Golden Lion (shared with Nam June Paik) at the Venice Biennale in 1993. He has participated in international exhibitions including documenta, Kassel (2017, 1997, 1987, 1982, 1972) Lyon Biennial (2017) Venice Biennale (2015, 2009, 1993, 1976) Liverpool Biennial (2014) Mercosul Biennial (2013) Sharjah Biennial (2011) Gwangju Biennale (2008) Whitney Biennial, New York (2000) Skulptur Projekte Münster (1997, 1987) Johannesburg Biennial (1997) Sydney Biennial (1990, 1984) São Paulo Biennial (1985) and Tokyo Biennial (1970). He has had one-person exhibitions at the New Museum, New York (2019, 1986) Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2012) MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA (2011, 1967) X Initiative, New York (2009) Generali Foundation, Vienna (2001) Serpentine Gallery, London (2001) Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (1996) Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (1995) Centre Pompidou, Paris (1989) Tate London (1984) Renaissance Society, Chicago (1979) Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1979) Modern Art Oxford, UK (1978) and Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt (1976), among others. Cologne, Germany, 1936) has been a pioneer in kinetic art, environmental art, Conceptual art, and institutional critique.
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