Jenny Holzer: "Projection for Chicago"

Poem "The Joy of Writing"

Timestamp: 0:02:36 | Permalink Permalink to this note

An excerpt from Wisława Szymborska's poem "The Joy of Writing" (1967), one of the works featured in Jenny Holzer's "Projection for Chicago" (2008):

Why does this written doe bound through these written woods?
For a drink of written water from a spring
whose surface will xerox her soft muzzle?
Why does she lift her head; does she hear something?
Perched on four slim legs borrowed from the truth,
she pricks up her ears beneath my fingertips.
Silence - this word also rustles across the page
and parts the boughs
that have sprouted from the word "woods."

Read the full poem (Nobel Prize)

Visit this link
0

Length0:00:00

Views: 728

iPod

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  License Embed
Embed Options

Embed:
Copy and paste the above html snippet to embed this video into your blog or web page.

Select a size:
  • Normal
    426 x 240
  • Large
    640 x 360
Art21 first featured artist Jenny Holzer in 2007
0:00:01
Watch the original & uncut 13 minute film online! (via Hulu)

Jump | More
Own Season 4 Today: DVD or iTunes
0:00:07
Jenny Holzer is featured in the Art21 episode "Protest" along with fellow artists Alfredo Jaar, An-My Lê, and Nancy Spero. The Season 4 DVD features 4 episodes, 16 artists, and is available from PBS and Amazon.

Jump | More
Art on the News: ABC 7 WLS, November 3, 2008
0:00:11
We love it when contemporary art is on the local news. Especially when there's triumphant music!

Jump | More
Xenon
0:00:25
Learn more about how the element Xenon is used to produce bright light.

Jump | More
Poet Wisława Szymborska
0:00:32
The poems in this work by Jenny Holzer were penned by the Nobel Prize-winning Polish author Wisława Szymborska, whose entire body of work is fewer than 250 poems. Learn more about this extraordinary poet.

Jump | More
Poem "The Joy of Writing"
0:00:44
An excerpt from Wisława Szymborska's poem "The Joy of Writing" (1967), one of the works featured in Jenny Holzer's "Projection for Chicago" (2008): Why does this written doe bound through these written woods? For a drink of written water from a spring whose surface will xerox her soft muzzle? Why does she lift her head; does she hear something? Perched on four slim legs borrowed from the truth, she pricks up her ears beneath my fingertips. Silence - this word also rustles across the page and parts the boughs that have sprouted from the word "woods."

Jump | More
Poem "In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself"
0:00:59
An excerpt from Wisława Szymborska's poem "In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself" (1976), one of the works featured in Jenny Holzer's "Projection for Chicago" (2008): The buzzard never says it is to blame. The panther wouldn't know what scruples mean. When the piranha strikes, it feels no shame. If snakes had hands, they'd claim their hands were clean. Read the full poem (Web Archive)

Jump | More
Poem "Could Have"
0:01:20
An excerpt from Wisława Szymborska's poem "Could Have" (1996), one of the works featured in Jenny Holzer's "Projection for Chicago" (2008): It could have happened. It had to happen. It happened earlier. Later. Nearer. Farther off. It happened, but not to you. You were saved because you were the first. You were saved because you were the last. Alone. With others. On the right. The left. Because it was raining. Because of the shade. Because the day was sunny. Read the full poem (U Penn).

Jump | More
Poem "Children of Our Age"
0:01:40
An excerpt from Wisława Szymborska's poem "Children of Our Age", one of the works featured in Jenny Holzer's "Projection for Chicago" (2008): We are children of our age, it's a political age. All day long, all through the night, all affairs--yours, ours, theirs-- are political affairs. Whether you like it or not, your genes have a political past, your skin, a political cast, your eyes, a political slant. Read the full poem (Web Archive)

Jump | More
More from Jenny Holzer
0:02:09

Jump | More
0 / 10

Jenny Holzer discusses the process behind her series of Xenon Projections as part of the exhibition PROTECT PROTECT at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Featured works include Projection for Chicago (2008), a multi-part projection of the texts of Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska on building facades around the city, including the Lyric Opera House & Riverside Plaza, among others. Holzer’s traveling exhibition opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York on March 12, 2009.

Whether questioning consumerist impulses, describing torture, or lamenting death and disease, Jenny Holzer’s use of language provokes a response in the viewer. While her subversive work often blends in among advertisements in public space, its arresting content violates expectations. Holzer’s texts—such as the aphorisms “abuse of power comes as no surprise” and “protect me from what I want”—have appeared on posters and condoms, and as electronic LED signs and projections of xenon light. Holzer’s recent use of text ranges from silk-screened paintings of declassified government memoranda detailing prisoner abuse, to poetry and prose in a 65-foot wide wall of light in the lobby of 7 World Trade Center, New York.

VIDEO | Producer: Wesley Miller, Nick Ravich & Kelly Shindler. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera & Sound: George Monteleone and Alexander Stewart. Editor: Jenny Chiurco. Artwork Courtesy: Jenny Holzer. Text Courtesy: Wislawa Szymborska. Special Thanks: MCA Chicago & Karla Loring.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

Notifications
CAPTCHA
Are you for real? Please answer this challenge to prove you're not a spam bot.