The main focus of her work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces.
https://unitlondon.com/2022-08-23/jenny-holzer-art-and-ideas/
“Renowned for their use of language, Holzer’s artworks deploy text to spark debate and draw attention to socio-political issues. Words are central to the artist’s work, whether they are carved into a stone bench or glimmering on an electronic sign. The public nature of Holzer’s installation pieces aims to present messages in ways that reach people in everyday places, outside the realms of traditional art spaces such as museums and galleries. For Holzer, it is crucial that her art exists in people’s day to day lives. She states: “I used language because I wanted to offer content that people – not necessarily art people – could understand.” Holzer’s texts frequently mirror the tone of voice used by news outlets, advertising and other mass media, encouraging us to reconsider the messages that constantly bombard us.”
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/holzer-jenny/
https://www.artistcloseup.com/blog/the-power-of-words-jenny-holzer
Criticism of her work:
https://artspiel.org/jenny-holzers-hypocrisy/
“Her reluctance to take a clear authorial stance ultimately neuters the subversive potential of her language. So, while both practices emerge from a shared impulse to disrupt the dominant power structures, Haacke’s incisive investigations prove far more courageous and effective in exposing the oppressive forces, while Holzer’s compromised approach lacks the ability to promote meaningful change.”
“What Holzer does is expose her viewers to an implied critique; it has the form of one but not the content because it is without subject or self-reflexivity. By disconnecting herself from an overarching critique of art’s relationship to power and ideology under late capitalism, what she has done is place that responsibility on her various audiences, some of whom are incidental and can’t distinguish her work from an advertising campaign. This presentation of disembodied statements without a clear authorial voice or overarching narrative reflects neoliberalism’s valuing of subjectivism over collective meaning-making that erodes public discourse and the principles of collective welfare. Given these limitations, Holzer’s work seemingly exploits socio-political issues in a way that may be seen as opportunistic or illusionistic — as such, because she never takes a position, her work will never offend.”
“if we set aside the claims made by Holzer institutional supporters who claim her work and public presentation convey critical socio-political commentaries against power structures, what remains is a body of work that fails to achieve its purported goal of using art as a vehicle for meaningful social change. If judged objectively, independent of the articles and press releases that reiterate the artist’s stated intent, Holzer’s practice when it comes to the economy of power (politics) becomes a hollow exercise in presenting in the public decontextualized inferences that are by analogy only tenuously connected to a political critique.”
