Jenny Holzer: Light Projections in Basel / Fondation Beyeler

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.

> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.

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