Jenny Holzer

Conceptual artist who transformed public spaces with provocative text projections

American artist Jenny Holzer (b.1950) weaponized language in urban environments through her LED installations and Truisms series. Her 1982 Times Square show projected phrases like ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE on Spectacolor boards, merging advertising aesthetics with political commentary.

Holzer's Protect Me From What I Want (1986) became a global phenomenon when displayed on the Las Vegas Sphere (2023). Her 2005 For the Capitol projected declassified war documents onto the Reichstag, creating visceral connections between historical trauma and contemporary conflicts.

Using LED technology before it became mainstream, Holzer's 1990 Venice Biennale installation displayed scrolling texts in ancient Venetian wells. This site-specific work merged Renaissance architecture with digital critique of power structures, later influencing digital protest movements like Anonymous' projection hacks.