If you are in doubt about the weight of words and if they matter, this is the perfect exhibition for you.
By Melissa Pereira
VIDEO BY MELISSA PEREIRA.
It’s an experience that can make you feel overwhelmed at first but can also be an exciting place to spend your time.
The five rooms of art appear to be a show of flashing lights at first sight, as the LED lights overpower the room with vibrant colours, mixed up in big, contextual words, that scream social problems.
Both of these visual elements are there to catch the attention of the viewers who cannot help but be intrigued by the display.
The words scream great reality, and the bright lights symbolise the shock element that the artist wants to reinforce.
The first room is wrapped in lines of poetic wallpaper that mark the start of a journey. Long walls full of original poems written by the artist Jenny Holzer. Each column features a different issue and a different theme, including freedom of expression, feminism, and violence.
BOTH PICTURES BY MELISSA PEREIRA
The most exciting feature in the first space is the glass shelf with different graphics which help us to understand how Jenny sees the world, and how she wants people to process her messages.
One of the techniques that can be considered unconventional and libertine is using condoms to cause a reaction in the visitor to create a strong response. And that's what one of the attractions does.
As ironic as it might be, the messages written in the condoms are "protect me from what I want," and "men do not protect you anymore". A bold and provocative move since condoms were traditionally made to be worn by men.
The main room takes us straight into space. It is almost like we can hear the beginning of the Montrose song, Space Station 5, rippling in as we stare.
The long LED lights are so lively, they shine as a reflection on the top of the window across the building. It creates a burning star effect, like stars circulating in space.
"You are the past, present and future" is just an example of the sentences that can be read, followed by "you can live on through your descendants". Strong messages that show the essence of the work.
Not only can we experience the lights moving just like we are watching the stars, but it is also possible to view the words taking off. The Blue Purple Tilt demonstrates this, a set of lights that were inspired by a survey of Holzer's writing, from her first Truisms and Inflammatory Essays. The essay, first written in the 1990s, is a tool that Jenny decided to use to make them more visible by creating the LED presentation.
There are other texts along the room, written on the walls in a set of aluminium plaques titled, The Survival Series.
We can have many interpretations of these series. It can be looked at as a note to self, or gentle words of advice to our society.
BOTH PICTURES BY MELISSA PEREIRA
It's most likely a work of criticism to us since Jenny's work focuses on truism.
The texts, created in 1984, aim to inform, instruct, or question the many ways there are to respond to the political, social, physical, psychological and personal environment.
"Protect me from what I want" is a crucial part of the Survival text, mainly because even though it was written in 1984, it still relates to our current situation as a society.
Although Jenny Holzer's exhibition is a 'word' exhibition, there are also three different paintings, each with a scenario and a concept, but always with a few words on display.
It could be considered the low point of the whole set. The words look helpless and useless in-between all the colours and designs associated with the paintings. It feels as if the pictures on their own don't have much correlation to the rest of the work and concept.
The final room explores the toll of warfare and its aftermath. The refugee crisis was, and still is, one of the leading humanitarian concerns globally, and this room is dedicated to exploring it.
There is a LED light at the corner of the room, illuminating accounts of Syrian refugees that were collected by Save the Children and Human Rights Watch. Once again, the use of lights make an impression, as it is the first thing you feel compelled to look at. Reading the accounts can be intense and make you feel shameful almost. Just thinking about the fact that on this side their statements are being read for entertainment, while people are going through these sad circumstances.
Overall this exhibition is a way to make us travel to and through our subconscious, as it makes us think and reflect on our decisions, as well as the decisions made around us. Knowing that Jenny Holzer was born in the 1950s is also important to highlight. Most of her work was created in the 1980s, but is still 100% relevant to our current reality. It is a breath of fresh air to see that the principles of feminism and activism are still intact. The exhibition is the type of art that second wave feminists would appreciate.
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