Roni Horn has opened her first London solo exhibition in over a decade, Seizure of Hope, at Hauser & Wirth. The show revisits her Seizure of Hope series with more than 45 densely layered drawings that repeatedly transform the phrase “I am paralyzed with hope,”
The first thing you notice in London isn’t the subject—it’s the feeling the surface keeps refusing to settle.
Roni Horn’s first solo exhibition in London in over a decade. titled Seizure of Hope. has opened at Hauser & Wirth. It brings together new works on paper and a cast-glass sculpture. continuing her long-standing attention to language and to the ways perception can wobble. The show is built around her ongoing Seizure of Hope series. where the phrase “I am paralyzed with hope” is written and rewritten across densely layered drawings.
The words themselves carry a history that Horn doesn’t treat as settled trivia. The phrase traces back to a line originally spoken by comedian Maria Bamford. and Horn first incorporated it into her 2021 installation LOG. which ran from 22 March 2019 to 17 May 2020. In the London exhibition. the repetition doesn’t behave like a slogan; it builds up like a stream of thought that won’t stop. accumulating across more than 45 drawings. The effect is closer to psychological pressure than emotional clarity—hope appears as a condition of suspension rather than optimism.
Horn’s method makes that tension physical. With wax crayon. she partially distorts the text so the words appear to dissolve into the page. recalling water-damaged ink or handwriting seen beneath a moving surface. The drawings operate as a kind of visual looping: repetition becomes both structure and a psychological state. By the time you look long enough, the promise of the phrase starts to feel complicated—held, not resolved.
That same instability extends into the sculpture on view. Alongside the works on paper is Horn’s cast-glass piece Untitled (“What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?”) (2022). described as a unique example of her cubic glass forms. Like much of her practice. the work exists in a fluctuating state shaped by light and reflection. shifting between solidity and transparency. It’s not merely a companion to the drawings; it behaves like another version of the same question. asking what remains when something disappears.
Water links the exhibition too. It functions as a visual reference and a metaphor for the fluid nature of identity, threading through both the paper—through the effects of dissolving text—and the glass, where light turns the object into something in motion.
Roni Horn: Seizure of Hope is now open in London through 1 August 2026.
Roni Horn Seizure of Hope Hauser & Wirth London exhibition cast-glass sculpture wax crayon Maria Bamford LOG language and perception contemporary art identity water metaphor
So is this like… hope but frozen?? Weird.
Wait I saw something about Maria Bamford and now it’s in a museum? That’s kinda cool but also how does a comedian line turn into glass sculptures lol. I don’t get the point but it sounds intense.
Hauser & Wirth again, rich people and their “language” art. Isn’t “Seizure of Hope” just like a sad phrase? Also the article says it’s been rewritten across 45 drawings—so like repetitive on purpose? I mean I guess, but still seems pointless. How is the cheese hole relevant to hope??
The wax crayon dissolving text part is the only thing that makes sense to me, like the words are literally breaking down. I read “paralyzed with hope” and instantly thought of anxiety, not optimism, so… yeah. But then it mentions water damaged ink and identity?? I swear they’re just piling metaphors until you can’t tell what you’re supposed to feel. Still I kinda wanna go see it though if it’s open through 2026.