Jenny Holzer: Trace

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Jenny Holzer: Light Line, a reimagining of the artist’s landmark 1989 installation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, this artist’s book will provoke and inspire. Each page features a phrase chosen by Holzer from three of her text series — Truisms, Living, and Survival — in the form of drawings she has used for many years to create her iconic stone benches. All interior pages are vellum, a physical and conceptual layering that invites novel readings of Holzer’s work. This unique volume extends her practice with a material presentation of real and imagined works that weaves new connections through its pages.

Holzer harnesses the power of words to convey joy, sorrow, contemplation, rage and everything in between. Her work presents writing—both her own and that of others—in an array of mediums, including electronic signs, plaques, paintings, and stonework. Starting in the 1970s with her New York City street posters, and continuing through her more recent light projections, mobile LED signs and experiments with artificial intelligence, her practice rivals ignorance and violence with humor, kindness, and courage. The public dimension is integral, and the surprising sites where her work appears range from city streets to stadium scoreboards, memorials, T-shirts, and condom wrappers. The thought-provoking and indelible words she chooses highlight the pressing issues of our time. 
 
About the artist

American artist Jenny Holzer has been creating provocative and poetic statements for more than 40 years. Whether encountered on city streets or in art galleries, Jenny Holzer's work asks us to consider the words and messages that surround us. Her art takes many forms, including stone benches, projections, signs, posters, paintings, plaques and textiles.

Holzer’s relationship with Tate includes ARTIST ROOMS: Jenny Holzer, 2018, and her striking light projection on Tate Modern’s chimney in 2021, created to draw attention to the climate emergency. More recently, four of her engraved marble benches were on display at Tate Modern as part of the exhibition ARTIST ROOMS: Art and Text.

• Artist Jenny Holzer
• Dimensions 11.4 x 22.9 cm
• Author Jenny Holzer
• ISBN 9780892075652 
• Paperback Yes
• Publisher Guggenheim Museum Publications, U.S.
• No of pages 240