Jenny Holzer’s For SAAM – awesome LED sculpture

Craft & Design Technology
Jenny Holzer’s For SAAM – awesome LED sculpture

For SAAM.jpg

Passing through the Smithsonian American Art Museum‘s Lincoln Gallery last night, I was drawn to this incredible column of light and text created by artist Jenny Holzer. The Reynolds Center calendar has this to say about the work, titled “For SAAM”:

The sculpture, which is approximately 28 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter, features texts from four of the artist’s series–Truisms, Living (selections), Survival (selections) and Arno–and includes some of her best-known statements. The texts are programmed to swirl and travel around the body of the piece. By varying the height, font, intensity and direction of the scrolling letters, Holzer activates the transparent column and the surrounding space with light that reflects off surfaces in the gallery. It is on display in the museum’s third floor Lincoln Gallery with other contemporary artworks from the permanent collection.

It’s part of the museum’s permanent collection, and you can find more information at the SAAM web site. Smithsonian Magazine has an interview with the artist about the work.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

I'm a tinkerer and finally reached the point where I fix more things than I break. When I'm not tinkering, I'm probably editing a book for Maker Media.

View more articles by Brian Jepson

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK