Exhibition Information

Installation View

from <Truisms> (1977-79) from <Agitative Essays> (1979-82).
2019 43.2x43.2cm, each

For you
2019 Robot LED sign 640.1x12.7x12.7cm

Installation View

			The "MMCA Commission Project" is a large-scale project designed to showcase works that will bring new discourse to the space of the art museum through collaboration with international writers that present the possibilities and future vision of modern art. In 2019, the company will introduce a new commission work by U.S. author Jenny Holzer (1950~), who uses text to deal with issues such as group problems and personal anxiety. The MMCA Commission Project, "For You: Jenny Holzer," presents a commission project that uses the public space of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Box and lobby, and outdoor space of Gwacheon as an artist’s stage and reveals the world of the artist’s work and interpretation of the new space.


Holzer began posting anonymous posters on the streets of New York in the late 1970s. The series is called  <Truismsms>, which is an alphabetical arrangement of simple and straightforward sentences that evoke conflicting views and arguments based on a variety of topics. Over the past 40 years or so, the author has applied alarming text to various media, including T-shirts and hats, nameplates, stone sculptures, electronic signboards, buildings and nature, to deliver the message to the public. In all works, Holzer's text is open interpretation and argument, which induces public participation and triggers dialogue. Also, his work is contributing to the expansion of public discourse, making public the problems of modern society such as abuse of power, war and gender inequality, revealing the voices of the marginalized and excluded.


《For you: Jenny Holzer》 presents the representative media used by the author to communicate with the audience in text, such as posters, LED signs and stone sculptures, in the museum’s inner outer space. Propaganda Essays and Orals is an early poster project that explores language as a medium, and Truisms is the first Korean-language implementation of the project, and the author’s intention to actively communicate with visitors. In addition to the posters, Gwacheon will showcase a permanent installation work featuring 11 ‘Truisms’’ selected by the artist on a stone bridge that harmonizes with the museum’s natural landscape, offering visitors a chance to evoke and reason their daily lives through the text they encountered. Also, the monumental new LED book, "For You," installed in the Seoul box of the Seoul Pavilion, features the voice of "Women" through the writings of five contemporary writers: Kim Hye-soon, Han River, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Svetlana Alexievich and Hawzhin Azeez. Their works together reflect the stories of violence, sacrifice and kindness women experience in their daily lives or in times of tragic conflict.