John Hurrell – 31 December, 2024

This kinetic light sculpture, presented in the South Atrium—a work by the American artist Jenny Holzer—is a four-sided electronic noticeboard of LEDs looks initially like a short post that hangs from a chain attached to the very high ceiling. On each of its four sides are descending written aphorisms that follow the dominant downward contours. Every carefully positioned moving letter is repeated on each of the four vertical planes, wrapped around the stem as it falls.

Over 80 English maxims are presented as the streaming lines of keyboarded truisms continuously change. Well known sayings are used, taken from a pool of nearly 300 collected by Holzer, ranging in mood from alarming to humorous, and all are pithy, concise and, if provocative, easy to remember.

These aphorisms Holzer calls Truisms, meaning truths that (for her) are presented as proposals. They might seem cornily obvious, but they don’t necessarily represent the views of the artist. So there is a bit of sting in the title. Viewers can decide for themselves if the selected sayings are really wise or stupid.

Some examples include: Abuse of power comes as no surprise; Ensure that your life stays in flux; Bad intentions can yield good results; and Ambition is just as dangerous as complacency.

In this electronic sculpture, the text direction and controlled speed for these regularly, rearticulated expressions are crucial for comprehension, as is the glowing colour. To decipher the downward-moving letters one recognises their swivelled individual shapes and deciphers their grouping and sequential word ordering.

Often these Truisms are also presented in other very different formats, such as groups of coloured posters pasted up on city street walls—much longer lists of typed sentences arranged in alphabetical order that here are static. Or printed onto white cotton T-shirts worn on the living torsos of art enthusiasts.

John Hurrell

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