Monday lethargy, as embodied by German artist Rebecca Horn in her 1968 performance, Arm Extensions. Horn’s weighty appendages are made from scarlet fabric, woven around concealed metal and wool cylinders. The same fabric is used to bind the work to the performer’s nude body, “bandaged crosswise from the chest down to the feet, like a mummy,” to quote the artist herself. Like Horn’s other famous body extensions made around this time, at first glance, the long, strong arms appear as if they would enhance the human body, but only serve to highlight its ultimately fragility.
