Jenny Holzer in the Reichstag building

Jenny Holzer, born 1950 in Gallipolis, Ohio, lives and works in Hoosick Falls, New York. Installation for the Reichstag building, 1999, pillar of steel with LED lettering.

When the Reichstag building was redesigned by Norman Foster, Jenny Holzer was invited by the Art Council of the German Parliament to take part in the site-specific art program. Her contribution to this program was an installation for the northern entrance hall of the Reichstag building.

Jenny Holzer uses new media to deliver her artistical and historical message. A text pole displays parliamentary speeches given between 1871 and 1992 flowing in the form of LED lettering from the floor to the ceiling. This creation is an impressive example of site-specific art, the more so as the Art Council of the Gertnan Parliament could not but hope that the artists commissioned might be inspired and guided by the spirit of the building, its history and political function. Naturally, the realisation of a work like this depends on the artist's imagination and conception, rather than on any kind of official orders. Fortunately, the artists commissioned have - in many cases - dealt with the history of the building in the same way Jenny Holzer has successfully done. She has created an impressive symbol of the spirit of this building of the parliament (a word which derives from "parlare" i.e. "to speak"): She has constructed a four-sided pillar which seems to support the ceiling of the hall with each side continuously displaying speeches given in parliament in the past. In the evening, the speeches are reflected all around on the glass windows - virtually symbolic reflections of parliamentary history.

The northern entrance hall of the Reichstag building is open to the public in 2001:

19th bis 23rd February
26th Februar to 2nd March
19th to 23rd March
9th to 12th April
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Text: Andreas Kaernbach, Kurator der Kunstsammlung des Deutschen Bundestages

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