Courtesy the artist and Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art, London

Kathleen Herbert, stills from "Stable," 2007, Super 16 mm film, 7 min 56 sec.

Courtesy the artist and Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art, London

Kathleen Herbert, stills from "Stable," 2007, Super 16 mm film, 7 min 56 sec.

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The premise is simple, the execution flawless, and various historical references anchor the work without weighing it down: the English artist Kathleen Herbert’s 16 mm film Stable (2007) is an eight-minute jewel. Herbert transforms Gloucester Cathedral by allowing three horses to freely roam around. The opening shots reveal nothing but an empty semilit interior, the air pregnant with 900 years of prayers, the worn stones embedded with a rich English heritage. Even when you know it’s coming, the first sound of hooves, the first snort, and the first sighting of a horse have a profound impact. With one stroke, the past connects to the present.

One of the work’s wonders is that we seem to know this without any explanation. It is only afterward that I learn that Puritan forces stabled their horses in this church as a clear message to the cathedral’s Royalist clerical authorities during the English civil war in the mid-17th century—a fact Herbert took as her starting point—and that medieval knights would take their horses inside for all-night vigils before battle. Like the architecture, the horses in the film seem as if they might be carrying these memories with them. With the lightest touch, Herbert taps into this history without pinning it down, creating a sense of intrigue and unease. At the same time, she offers ample visual pleasure, each shot beautifully framed and lit, a rare quality today. It is her first solo show in London, and I look forward to seeing more.