Roni Horn: Long-term view

Roni Horn’s long-term exhibition at Dia Beacon presents a radical and reflective body of work that spans sculpture, drawing, and installation. Known for her conceptual precision and poetic restraint, Horn invites viewers into a conversation between object and self—where identity is mutable, space is relational, and meaning is perpetually in flux.

The show foregrounds Horn’s early explorations in metal—including the Mass Removal and Space Buttress series—where lead and iron take on surprising fragility and resonance. Pieces such as Object of Constancy (1980) and Post Work 3 (1986) explore the tension between solidity and impermanence, while Things That Happen Again (1986/90) makes doubling a site of transformation: two copper cones that change identity through placement alone.

Interspersed drawings—segmented, reassembled, and vibrating with pigment—guide visitors through the installation like visual whispers, further blurring the line between stillness and movement, difference and repetition. Every piece demands presence; each encounter is a becoming.

This long-term view is not just an exhibition—it’s…