'For Science' by Jenny Holzer

Made:
2020 in New York and California
artist:
Jenny Holzer
'For Science' by Jenny Holzer 'For Science' by Jenny Holzer

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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Jenny Holzer
© 2020 Jenny Holzer, ARS. Photo © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London

Jenny Holzer
© 2020 Jenny Holzer, ARS. Photo © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London

'For Science' sculpture by Jenny Holzer, 2020, comprising two benches made from silver cloud granite. A sand-blasted text in capital letters features down the centre of each bench seat: 'Illness is the night-side of life' on one, 'What kind of life exists without language?' on the other. This is a conceptual artwork by Holzer, working in New York, fabricated by Carnevale and Lohr in Bell Gardens, California.

Holzer is one of the most significant artists working today, particularly known for her works incorporating pithy, often political statements displayed in the public realm. Beginning with posters displayed in Times Square New York in the 1970s, her works have since ranged from T-shirts and plaques, to large light projections and stone carvings. She challenges ignorance and violence, championing art as a tool for public good.

Holzer was commissioned to produce a new piece for the Science Museum’s ‘Faith, Hope and Fear’ gallery within ‘Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries’ in 2020. Her response, ‘For Science’ offers two inscribed benches as a place for respite and reflection. They are constructed from silver cloud granite, chosen to evoke memorials and monuments. The texts are taken from Susan Sontag’s ‘Illness as Metaphor’ from 1978 and Paul Kalanithi’s ‘When Breath Becomes Air’ from 2016. Both authors wrote in response to living with cancer, Holzer describes “their thinking about illness [as] expansive and frank.”

Details

Category:
Art
Object Number:
2020-171
Materials:
stone
Measurements:
Bench 1: 430 mm x 1880 mm x 560 mm, 518 kg
Bench 2: 430 mm x 1880 mm x 560 mm, 518 kg
type:
sculpture
credit:
(c) 2020 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Commissioned for the Medicine Galleries by Science Museum Group. Commission and acquisition made possible with Art Fund support. With additional thanks to the Henry Moore Foundation.

Parts

'For Science' [1] by Jenny Holzer

Half of 'For Science' sculpture by Jenny Holzer, 2020. A silver cloud granite bench with the text 'Illness is the night-side of life' in capital letters sand-blasted down the centre of the bench seat. This is a conceptual artwork by Holzer, working in New York, fabricated by Carnevale and Lohr in Bell Gardens, California.

More

Holzer is one of the most significant artists working today, particularly known for her works incorporating pithy, often political statements displayed in the public realm. Beginning with posters displayed in Times Square New York in the 1970s, her works have since ranged from T-shirts and plaques, to large light projections and stone carvings. She challenges ignorance and violence, championing art as a tool for public good.

Holzer was commissioned to produce a new piece for the Science Museum’s ‘Faith, Hope and Fear’ gallery within ‘Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries’ in 2020. Her response, ‘For Science’, offers two inscribed benches as a place for respite and reflection. They are constructed from silver cloud granite, chosen to evoke memorials and monuments. The texts are taken from Susan Sontag’s ‘Illness as Metaphor’ from 1978 and Paul Kalanithi’s ‘When Breath Becomes Air’ from 2016. Both authors wrote in response to living with cancer, Holzer describes “their thinking about illness [as] expansive and frank.”

‘Illness is the night-side of life’ are the opening of words of Susan Sontag's ‘Illness as Metaphor’. Sontag was an influential American writer, philosopher and critic who wrote this work while being treated for breast cancer. Her words introduce the idea that we have citizenship of two countries throughout our lives – the realms of the well and the sick – within which we have different stereotypes to contend with due to social views of illness. She argued that metaphorical language around illness creates a form of victim-blaming.

Measurements:
overall: 430 mm x 1880 mm x 560 mm, 518 kg
Materials:
stone
Object Number:
2020-171/1
type:
sculpture
Image ©
Text: Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag, © 1978 by Susan Sontag. Used with permission of The Wylie Agency LLC. © 2020 Jenny Holzer, ARS. Photo © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London

'For Science' [2] by Jenny Holzer

Half of 'For Science' sculpture by Jenny Holzer, 2020. A silver cloud granite bench with the text 'What kind of life exists without language?' in capital letters sand-blasted down the centre of the bench seat. This is a conceptual artwork by Holzer, working in New York, fabricated by Carnevale and Lohr in Bell Gardens, California.

More

Holzer is one of the most significant artists working today, particularly known for her works incorporating pithy, often political, statements displayed in the public realm. Beginning with posters displayed in Times Square New York in the 1970s, her works have since ranged from T-shirts and plaques, to large light projections and stone carvings. She challenges ignorance and violence, championing art as a tool for public good.

Holzer was commissioned to produce a new piece for the Science Museum’s ‘Faith, Hope and Fear’ gallery within ‘Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries’ in 2020. Her response, ‘For Science’, offers two inscribed benches as a place for respite and reflection. They are constructed from silver cloud granite, chosen to evoke memorials and monuments. The texts are taken from Susan Sontag’s ‘Illness as Metaphor’ from 1978 and Paul Kalanithi’s ‘When Breath Becomes Air’ from 2016. Both authors wrote in response to living with cancer, Holzer describes “their thinking about illness [as] expansive and frank.”

‘What kind of life exists without language?’ is a poignant question from Kalanithi’s memoir, published after his death from lung cancer. A successful Indian-American neurosurgeon, his diagnosis flipped his experience from that of doctor to patient and led him to reflect on the morality and ethical decisions integral to being a doctor. His quotation comes from thoughts on the deep responsibility of a surgeon when conducting brain surgery and the need to understand what each patient holds central to their identity.

Measurements:
overall: 430 mm x 1880 mm x 560 mm, 518 kg
Materials:
stone
Object Number:
2020-171/2
type:
sculpture
Image ©
Text: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, © 2016 by Corcovado, Inc. Used with permission of Corcovado, Inc. © 2020 Jenny Holzer, ARS. Photo © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London