From: pound@ruf.rice.edu (Christopher Brian Pound)
Subject: Re: Jenny Holzer
Organization: Rice University
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 21:57:35 GMT

[These articles appeared in alt.postmodern a LONG time ago; apparently
 Holzer approves of this sort of thing (read the next paragraph), so
 don't nobody go squealing "copyright!" at me. :) ]

Article 538 of alt.postmodern:
From: EGNILGES@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Ed Nilges)

Holzer has a refreshing lack of ego and competitiveness: her main object 
appears to be disseminating her work.  I put one of her longer 
"Inflammatory Essays" in a procedure executed automatically when I logged 
on to the system at work: she liked this idea, saying that that sort of 
dissemination to non-Art contexts is what she is about.

Here is an example of Holzer's work.

 SHRIEK WHEN THE PAIN HITS DURING
 INTERROGATION. REACH INTO THE DARK
 AGES TO FIND A SOUND THAT IS LIQUID
 HORROR. A SOUND OF THE BRINK WHERE
 MAN STOPS AND THE BEAST AND
 NAMELESS CRUEL FORCES BEGIN. SCREAM
 WHEN YOUR LIFE IS THREATENED. FORM A
 NOISE SO TRUE THAT YOUR TORMENTOR
 RECOGNIZES IT AS A VOICE THAT LIVES IN
 HIS OWN THROAT. THE TRUE SOUND TELLS
 HIM THAT HE CUTS HIS OWN FLESH WHEN HE
 CUTS YOURS. THAT HE CANNOT THRIVE
 AFTER HE TORTURES YOU. SCREAM THAT
 HE DESTROYS ALL KINDNESS IN YOU AND
 BLACKENS EVERY VISION YOU COULD HAVE
 SHOWN HIM.

 FEAR IS THE MOST ELEGANT WEAPON,
 YOUR HANDS ARE NEVER MESSY.
 THREATENING BODILY HARM IS CRUDE.
 WORK INSTEAD ON MINDS AND BELIEFS,
 PLAY INSECURITIES LIKE A PIANO. BE
 CREATIVE IN APPROACH. FORCE ANXIETY
 TO EXCRUCIATING LEVELS OR GENTLY
 UNDERMINE THE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE.
 PANIC DRIVES HUMAN HERDS OVER CLIFFS;
 AN ALTERNATIVE IS TERROR INDUCED
 IMMOBILIZATION. FEAR FEEDS ON FEAR.
 PUT THIS EFFICIENT PROCESS IN MOTION.
 MANIPULATION IS NOT LIMITED TO PEOPLE.
 ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND DEMOCRATIC
 INSTITUTIONS CAN BE SHAKEN. IT WILL BE
 DEMONSTRATED THAT NOTHING IS SAFE,
 SACRED OR SANE. THERE IS NO RESPITE
 FROM HORROR. ABSOLUTES ARE
 QUICKSILVER. RESULTS ARE SPECTACULAR.

 CHANGE IS THE BASIS OF ALL HISTORY, THE
 PROOF OF VIGOR. THE OLD IS SOILED AND
 DISGUSTING BY NATURE. STALE FOOD IS
 REPELLENT. MONOGAMOUS LOVE BREEDS
 CONTEMPT. SENILITY CRIPPLES THE
 GOVERNMENT THAT IS TOO POWERFUL TOO
 LONG. UPHEAVAL IS DESIRABLE BECAUSE
 FRESH, UNTAINTED GROUPS SEIZE
 OPPORTUNITY. VIOLENT OVERTHROW IS
 APPROPRIATE WHEN THE SITUATION IS
 INTOLERABLE. SLOW MODIFICATION CAN BE
 EFFECTIVE; MEN CHANGE BEFORE THEY
 NOTICE AND RESIST. THE DECADENT AND
 THE POWERFUL CHAMPION CONTINUITY.
 "NOTHING ESSENTIAL CHANGES." THAT IS A
 MYTH. IT WILL BE REFUTED. THE
 NECESSARY BIRTH CONVULSIONS WILL BE
 TRIGGERED. ACTION WILL BRING THE
 EVIDENCE TO YOUR DOORSTEP.

 THERE IS AN ORDER. SOMEONE IS TAKING
 CARE OF US. IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE A
 PAINLESS ARRANGEMENT BUT IT ENSURES
 THAT ONE DAY FOLLOWS THE NEXT, THAT
 THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER CHANCE. IN
 QUIET MOMENTS ONE CAN SENSE THE FLOW
 AND JOIN WITH THE IRRESISTIBLE
 SEQUENCE OF EVENTS. THIS IS A SOURCE
 OF COMFORT; WE CAN FEEL WE'RE PART OF A
 LARGER PLAN. ULTIMATELY, WE AREN'T
 RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COURSE OF THE
 WORLD; IT IS A LARGER ENTERPRISE. WE
 MUST, HOWEVER, CONDUCT OURSELVES
 HUMANELY. KNOWING THAT WE ARE SO
 VERY SAFE HELPS US RELAX AND DO JUST
 THIS.

 - JENNY HOLZER


********************************************************************************

Article 539 of alt.postmodern:
From: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman)

Thanks to Ed Nilges for the item about Jenny Holzer.  I ran into her
work in the Albuquerque Journal "Impact" magazine of January 28, 1986,
when they published this list of Holzerisms:

A man can't know what it's like to be a mother.
Abuse of power comes as no surprise.
Action causes more trouble than thought.
Alienation produces eccentrics or revolutionaries.
All things are delicately interconnected.
An elite is inevitable.
Anger or hate can be a useful motivating force.
Any surplus is immoral.
At times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning.
Boredom makes you do crazy things.
Calm is more conducive to creativity than is anxiety.
Children are the cruelest of all.
Children are the hope of the future.
Confusing yourself is a way to stay honest.
Disgust is the appropriate response to most situations.
Eating too much is criminal.
Everyone's work is equally important.
Exceptional people deserve special concessions.
Freedom is a luxury not a necessity.
Go all out in romance and let the chips fall where they may.
Government is a burden on the people.
Hiding your motives is despicable.
Humanism is obsolete.
Humor is a release.
Inheritance must be abolished.
It's better to be naive than jaded.
It's good to give extra money to charity.
Lack of charisma can be fatal.
Money creates taste.
Much was decided before you were born.
Pain can be a very positive thing.
People who don't work with their hands are parasites.
People won't behave if they have nothing to lose.
Private property created crime.
Raise boys and girls the same way.
Romantic love was invented to manipulate women.
Starvation is nature's way.
Technology will make or break us.
The most profound things are inexpressible.
Timidity is laughable.
Words tend to be inadequate.
You are guileless in your dreams.
You must remember you have freedom of choice.

********************************************************************************

Article 540 of alt.postmodern:
From: eliot@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Eliot Handelman)

Let's clear one thing up. Jenny Holzer's messages are not her art. Jenny
Holzer's art [how I hate that word] consists in imprisoning these
messages in flashing signs, or putting these messages in contexts where
information not quite of the sort she provides is anticipated. You may
like the messages, but it's the estranged context that makes her stuff
what it is.
-- 
Christopher Pound	+	"Homer deserves to be thrown out of the
Anthro Grad Student	+	 contests and flogged." 
pound@ruf.rice.edu	+	 	                  -- Heraclitus