ARoS is adding a significant work by renowned American artist Jenny Holzer (b. 1950) to its impressive collection of international contemporary art. For Aros (2022) was acquired with the support of the Augustinus Foundation and fundraising initiatives. 

Along with The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell and Olafur Eliasson’s Your rainbow panorama, Holzer’s installation is a prominent artwork in the ARoS collection. 

For Aros consists of three white marble benches and a vertical multicolor LED sign measuring nearly three and a half meters in height. Each of the benches is engraved with ten texts from Holzer’s groundbreaking Truisms (1977–79), selected by the artist in close consultation with ARoS curators.  

The sign is programmed with selections from some of Holzer’s most iconic text series, including Truisms, Inflammatory Essays (1979–82), Living (1980–82), Survival (1983–85), Mother and Child (1990), and Arno (1996). 

Together, these elements form a work of art that responds to ARoS’s unique architecture, countering the ephemeral nature of thought with the permanence of stone and inviting visitors to read, reflect, and rest.  

“I am so very happy and lucky to have work at ARoS. I offered text in stone and on an electronic display for contrast, for different ways of reading and watching and knowing and asking,” says Jenny Holzer.  

A psychedelic distortion of archival photographs of individuals experiencing different states of catharsis by renowned visual artist Jeremy Shaw (b. 1977) 

Sensational text-based art

Holzer’s Truisms juxtapose contradictory positions and propositions to generate thoughtful perspectives on social issues, constructs, and beliefs. This philosophical approach encourages an attitude of reflection that can shake up long-held prejudices and intractable habits.  

“The acquisition of Jenny Holzer’s work is of great importance to ARoS, as Holzer, along with Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger, is one of the greatest female artists of the postmodernist generation. Holzer’s political engagement and her practice of exposing the language and consequences of power are as relevant today as they have been for decades. She is also a major source of inspiration for many of the contemporary artists we showcase at the museum, and we see the acquisition of Holzer’s work as a natural extension of our vision of presenting epoch-making and critically reflective art,” says ARoS’s director, Rebecca Matthews. 

For Aros will be installed as the opening centerpiece of ARoS’s gallery of installation art on Level 0. 

Jenny Holzer is internationally known for her text-based artworks, which occupy urban spaces in a diverse array of forms, from electronic signs to everyday consumer goods to monumental projections onto buildings and landscapes. Often sited in unexpected locales outside the gallery environment, her works instigate a direct encounter between the viewer and the messages presented.  

“Since Jenny Holzer had her artistic breakthrough in the 1970s, she has succeeded in sparking debate and sharpening our critical awareness by drawing attention to gender issues, power structures, and social injustice, among other things. In a world full of text messages and tweets, Holzer’s trailblazing work is more relevant than ever, and we are delighted to add her incisive institutional critique to our collection,” says Jakob Vengberg Sevel, curator and head of the collection at ARoS. 

For Aros will be on view starting Thursday, November 9, 2023, and will also be presented as part of ARoS’s Programme Launch 2024 on November 16, 2023.

Press photos can be freely downloaded from Dropbox when giving due credit.

Photo credits   
For Aros (2022). ARoS 2023 © Jenny Holzer

For additional information, please contact:
Press and Communications
presse@aros.dk
+ 45 61 90 49 42

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