Search Collections
For SAAM
2007
Jenny Holzer
Born: Gallipolis, Ohio 1950
electronic LED array with white diodes
336 x 48 in. (853.4 x 121.9 cm)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
© 2007, Jenny Holzer/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
2008.3
Smithsonian American Art Museum
3rd Floor, East Wing
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950) is an internationally renowned artist best known for her pioneering work incorporating texts into light-based sculptures and projections. For SAAM (2007) is Holzer's first cylindrical column of light and text created from white electronic LEDs (light emitting diodes). The piece, according to the artist, is "sensitive to the formal integrity of the museum and attuned to the experience of the collection and space."
The sculpture, which is approximately twenty-eight feet tall and four feet in diameter, features texts from four of the artist's series—Truisms, Living (selections), Survival (selections), and Arno—and includes some of her best-known statements. The texts are programmed to swirl and travel around the body of the piece. By varying the height, font, intensity and direction of the scrolling letters, Holzer activates the transparent column and the surrounding space with light that reflects off surfaces in the gallery.
For SAAM is the latest work that is part of Holzer's ongoing exploration of art and architecture. She has created site-specific work for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Reichstag in Berlin, and 7 World Trade Center in New York City, among others.
New Acquisitions
Keywords
sculpture
About Jenny Holzer
Born: Gallipolis, Ohio 1950
Blogs, Podcasts, and More
- Eye Level: SAAM Celebrates FotoWeek DC
- Eye Level: SAAM Launches Photography Podcast
- Eye Level: Getting a Head @ SAAM
- Eye Level: Picture This: Bottle Caps at SAAM
- Eye Level: Pop Goes the Artist: James Rosenquist at SAAM
- Eye Level: Awards for SAAM New Media Projects
- Eye Level: Media Arts Lectures at SAAM Start Tomorrow
- Eye Level: American Art in a Global Context SAAM ...
- Eye Level: New Flickr Group for SAAM/Renwick
- Eye Level: Take Me Out to the Museum: Baseball Family Day ...




Social Media @ American Art