“Advertising Art That Advertises Itself As Art That Hates Advertising”: Jenny Holzer and the Truisms of Times Square

Year 2002, Issue: 16, 77 - 88, 01.10.2002

Sirma Soran Gumpert

Abstract

Theory of art in the Cold War years and onward, for the most part, highlighted the question of art’s relevance to social-political issues. Aspects of art and theory of the 1950s and 1960s posed the question whether art could instigate a revolutionary transformation of society or not. Theorists and artists who confirmed the popularization of culture chose to deal with explicitly human and cultural themes and/or with the identifiable forms of an explicitly contemporary culture. In this respect Jenny Holzer fits the type of artist engaged with historic and social conditions namely the post-war years in the U.S. , and one who integrates her work with urban architecture in order to reach the populace more directly. Hence, this study offers an observation of how Jenny Holzer’s work TRUISMS sets a successful example of how the popularization and/or politicization of art may allow for an awakening of the masses and consequently even a transformation of society

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