Roni Horn has opened her first solo exhibition in London in over a decade entitled Seizure of Hope, presenting new works on paper alongside a cast-glass sculpture that continues the artist’s long-standing engagement with language and unstable forms of perception. The Hauser & Wirth exhibition centres on Horn’s ongoing Seizure of Hope series, in which the phrase ‘I am paralyzed with hope’ is written and rewritten across densely layered drawings.
Drawn from a line originally spoken by comedian Maria Bamford and first incorporated into Horn’s 2021 installation LOG (22 March 2019 – 17 May 2020), the repeated phrase accumulates across the works like a stream of consciousness, reflecting the pervasive states of anxiety and emotional unease in contemporary society. Using wax crayon, Horn partially distorts the text so that the words appear to dissolve into the page, recalling water-damaged ink or handwriting viewed beneath a moving surface. Across more than 45 drawings, repetition serves as a visual structure as well as a psychological condition, with hope presented as a state of suspension rather than reflecting optimism.
Accompanying the works on paper is Horn’s cast-glass sculpture Untitled (“What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?”) (2022), a unique example of the artist’s cubic glass forms. As with much of Horn’s practice, the work exists in a fluctuating state shaped by light and reflection, shifting between solidity and transparency. Water remains a linking conceptual thread throughout the exhibition, serving as a visual reference and metaphor for the fluid nature of identity.
Roni Horn: Seizure of Hope is now open in London through 1 August 2026.
