Jenny Holzer in the Reichstag building
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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.
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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
