Longing Ghosts in Deep Blue Paranoia
Exhibition views from "The Afterwake" (Anaïs Horn & Pedro Zylberstaijn), curated by Gabriela Rangel, RGR Galeria, Mexico City, July–September 2023
Exhibition views from “Unstable Intensities” (Anaïs Horn, Katharina Copony), curated by Francesca Lazzarini, MLZ Art Dept., Trieste, June–September 2022
Anaïs Horn’s work complex “Longing Ghosts in Deep Blue Paranoia” (2022) is dedicated to Charlotte of Belgium, who lived in the Castle of Miramare (IT) after her wedding to Maximilian of Austria. When he became emperor of Mexico in 1864 their tragic story started to unfold: Suffering from a hopeless political situation, a lack of love, and unfulfilled motherhood, she was diagnosed mentally ill at the age of 26. After his execution in 1867 she spent 50 years in isolation. Horn explores the secret memories of the Castle’s stage-like rooms, the uncanny of the past appearing in reflections, dead angles, and blurs. The photographs are printed on mirrors, set in antique frames by historic Triestinian frame builder Parmiani. She filmed secret interventions in the Miramare park: floating, ghost-like objects with surveillance lens, referring to Charlotte's anxieties. The installation’s soundscape by Eilert Asmervik features a text written/voiced by Estelle Hoy and a scent created by Pauline Rochas.
On occasion of exhibition “Longing Ghosts in Deep Blue Paranoia” is published by Drama Books, Paris, designed and co-edited by Boah Kim.
The works were realized or initiated during a residency with Air Trieste in 2021, curated by Francesca Lazzarini.
The residency was supported by the Province of Styria Cultural Department.
Photography from the series Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, inkjet prints on mirrors, sizes variable, in antique frames, 2021—2022.
Drawings: Nervous Breakdown, ink, pencil on found paper, 17 × 25 cm, 2021. Teonancatl, ink, pencil on found paper, 17 × 25 cm, 2022.
Fuck the Pope, ink, pencil and found object on found paper, 25 × 17 cm, 2021.
Breath Exercise, ink, pencil on found paper, 25 × 17 cm, 2021.
Dark Secrets, ink, pencil on found paper, 17 × 25 cm, 2022.
All in antique frames, frame sizes variable.