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An essential part of the Jenny Holzer exhibition at Fondation Beyeler in Riehen / Basel in Switzerland is a series of projections in public space. Since 1996 Jenny Holzer has created light projections in public spaces around the world, at sites including the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris and the facade of the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

With these large scale projections, the texts she uses in these works enter a dialogue with the public building on which they are projected, its look and its history. The texts used in these projections at times are Holzer’s own, and in other times are the work of others such as Wisława Szymborska (the Polish Nobel Prize winner for literature), and the American poet Henri Cole.

This video documents the light projections onto Basel’s City Hall (November 1, 2009), Basel’s Cathedral (November 3, 2009), and the Swiss Railway Station (Bahnhof SBB, November 5, 2009). The first projection at Fondation Beyeler is part of our video about the opening of Jenny Holzer’s exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler. Upcoming projections will be in Zürich (Lindenhof, projection over the Limmat, November 11 – 22, 2009) and in Binningen (Margarethenhügel, 2nd week of January, 2010).

The exhibition at Fondation Beyeler is accompanied by a series of events. On January 12, 2010 there’s an artist talk, Jenny Holzer in conversation with Jacques Herzog, Herzog & De Meuron Architects.

Jenny Holzer at Fondation Beyeler, Light Projections. Basel / Switzerland, November 1, 3, and 5, 2009.

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• Jenny Holzer at Fondation Beyeler

Jenny Holzer is considered as one of the most popular contemporary artists. Holzer is known for her use of words and ideas in public space. In 1982 she publicised her statements and aphorisms (“truisms”) on one of Times Square’s gigantic LED billboards, in 2008 she created a site-specific light projection for the newly renovated facade of the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum in New York.

Fondation Beyeler in Riehen near Basel, Switzerland, is now presenting Jenny Holzer’s first large sale exhibition in a Swiss museum. The focus is on recent works, some of which have never before been shown in Europe. On display are Jenny Holzer’s famous LED installations, combining poetic, socio-critical, and political texts and visual effects, as welll as paintings and sculptures. The exhibition is supplemented by a selection of works the artist has chosen from the Beyeler Collection (Giacometti, Picasso, Malevich, Bacon).

The presentation of Jenny Holzer’s work is not confined to the museum space. The show extends outdoors to the public space. Jenny Holzer conceived light projections on key buildings and sites in Basel and Zürich. These will only be on view on special nights.

The exhibition has been conceived in close cooperation with the artist and the MCA, Chicago, and curated by Elizabeth A. T. Smith and Philippe Büttner. The exhibition at Fondation Beyeler runs until January 24, 2010.

Jenny Holzer at Fondation Beyeler in Riehen / Switzerland. Opening reception, October 31, 2009.

PS: Like to follow Jenny Holzer on Twitter?

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• Jenny Holzer: Light Projections in Basel / Fondation Beyeler

Jenny Holzer created a site-specific light projection for the newly renovated facade of the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum in New York. The Guggenheim Museum commissioned the piece to mark the completion of the museums’s three-year restoration project. Jenny Holzer’s work, entitled “For the Guggenheim” will be on display from dusk to 11 pm every Friday through December 31 (with the exception of October 24). A special additional showing will take place on New Year’s Eve.
The large-scale texts cast directly onto the facade of Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark building comprise of the artist’s own writings and numerous poems.
This video shows an excerpt of Jenny Holzer’s work “For the Guggenheim”. October 17, 2008.

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The exhibition Fiat Lux at the gallery Ruzicska in Salzburg, Austria, gathers works that deal with light by Jenny Holzer (“Four Corners: Truisms, Living” and “Torso”), Brigitte Kowanz (“Ad infinitum”, “Brightness”, “Remoteness” and “Vision”), François Morellet (“4 à 4 no. 3″ and “Lunatique neonly – 16 quarts de cercle No. 6″), Maurizio Nannucci (“Listen to your eyes”), Keith Sonnier (“Ballroom Chandelier”), James Turrell (“Squat, Red”), and Richard Long (“Seeming lightness of light”). Impressions from the opening reception, Ruzicska Gallery, Salzburg / Austria, July 25, 2008.
PS: The monumental sculpture on display in front of the gallery is by AES+F.

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