Selections From Roni Horn, The Selected Gifts

Glenn Ligon’s black Moon Jars got me looking through the exhibitions at Tokyo’s Rat Hole Gallery, which was an underground space operated by the streetwear brand Hysteric Glamour. It closed at the beginning of COVID. Some of their shows are documented on Contemporary Art Library, including their third show with Roni Horn, The Selected Gifts (1974-2015), in 2017-18. “37 Album of owl postcards, 38 Mosaic color sample card, 39 naturally round rock, 40 ‘Untitled’ (1987) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, 41 Handmade miniature olive tree, 42 Fortune cookie fortune, 43 Die (solid sterling silver)” installation view of Roni Horn, The Selected Gifts (1974-2015), 2017 at Rat Hole Gallery, Tokyo, via Contemporary Art Library Horn presented “a vicarious self-portrait” as told by a series of mostly life-sized photographs of 43 gifts received over 41 years. “Collectively, the gifts tell a story, through a language of the self as mediated through both objects and others—a reflection through the warped optic…