ART CITIES:Zurich- Jenny Holzer

The main focus of Jenny Holzer’s work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces. She belongs to the feminist branch of a generation of artists that emerged around 1980, looking for new ways to make narrative or commentary an implicit part of visual objects. Text-based light projections have been central to Holzer’s practice since 1996. As of 2010, her LED signs have become more sculptural.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Hauser & Wirth Gallery

In her new solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Zurich Jenny Holzer unveils a series of “Redaction” paintings along with related drawings, centered around a new kinetic LED beam that responds to movement, a collection of her austere stone benches complete the presentation. The work “There were eleven of us” (2015) is taken from US government memos, the documents have been painstakingly reproduced using hand-traced text upon layers of oil paint. Holzer first conceived of using government documents as a medium in 2003. When asked by Wired Magazine how she would redo Google’s interface, Holzer commented, “I’d provide a secret, a surprise, every time someone visits Google. The user would get the covert stuff that makes fate. The homepage might include… a national security directive… All the documents would be real and available on the Web”. Expanding upon this idea, Holzer used sensitive government materials in her 2004 solo exhibition, “Truth Before Power”, at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria. Days prior to the 2004 United States presidential election, documents, in the form of light, were projected onto George Washington University’s Gelman Library in Washington, D.C. The library houses the National Security Archive, a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to defending and expanding public access to government information. Holzer has relied on the NSA and its director, Thomas Blanton, since her research into archival government materials commenced. In the fall of 2005, Holzer projected a selection of documents onto New York University’s Bobst Library. Scrolling the LaGuardia Place facade like credits at the end of a film, the documents Holzer chose explored the United States’ current ‘war’ on terrorism, the consequences of 9/11, the practice of intelligence and counter-intelligence, issues of prisoner abuse, and the ongoing tragedies of war. The documents glazed the downtown architecture and became entangled in its contours. Like a constant presence, a familiar building, or truth, ignored secrets were evident.

Info: Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Limmatstrasse 270, Zürich, Duration 12/6-29/7/17, Days & Hours Mon-Fri 11:00-18:00, Sat 11:00-17:00, www.hauserwirth.com