Maureen Paley and Herald St are delighted to announce Gebrochenes Pferd, an exhibition of new works by Alexandra Bircken taking place in both galleries’ East London premises.

German for ‘broken horse’, the title of the exhibition announces a rupture and a feeling of unease. The same name is given to two works which echo one another in separate spaces. At Maureen Paley, we are confronted by a rocking horse in turned wood, its abdomen sliced down the middle and splayed open.
 

Gebrochenes Pferd refers to the sculptural tradition of the equestrian statue, which for centuries has epitomised the dignified representation of rulers, emperors, kings, and conquerors. The horse continues to serve as a symbol of unbridled mobility, technological prowess, and strength (for example, in the Ferrari horse, the ‘Cavallino Rampante’) even after it has been replaced by motorised and fossil fuel-powered machines. Here, these attributes, the fanatical optimism of progress and the constant need for speed of the twentieth century, are shown as broken and self-destructive.