Conversation with Jenny Holzer at MoMA this Friday

Jenny Holzer, Production still. Art in the Twenty-First Century, Season 4, Episode “Protest” © Art21, Inc. 2007

September 28, 2007 at 6:30 pm

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
11 West 53rd Street
New York City
Tickets: $10; members $8; students, seniors, and staff of other museums $5. Tickets can be purchased at the lobby information desk, the Film desk, the Cullman Building lobby, or online at www.ticketweb.com.

Season 4 featured artist Jenny Holzer will be the guest speaker this Friday in MoMA‘s series Conversations with Contemporary Artists. Holzer will discuss her work, the creative process, and general issues in contemporary art.

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.

Protest, the Art:21 episode featuring Jenny Holzer, premieres on Sunday, November 4 at 10pm on PBS. Check local listings.