Jenny Holzer projects the words of gun violence victims on the Rockefeller Center

A new large-scale public installation by Jenny Holzer will tackle America’s most controversial topic head on, across the facade of one of the country’s most famous buildings. Vigil sees the artist employ her signature text-based approach to a huge canvas, the Rockefeller Center.

The new work is commissioned and presented by public arts organisation Creative Time, which is known for its poignant installations on landmarks across the US, including the twin beacons of light that illuminated lower Manhattan six months after 9/11.

Vigil will feature testimonies, responses and poems by people confronting the everyday reality of gun violence. Holzer selected the text from a range of publications including Bullets into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence, Moments that Survive collected by Everytown for Gun Safety, and poems by teenagers who have grown up with mass shootings as part of their lives. Holzer has previously focused on the subject of gun violence in her project It Is Guns, which saw her place provocative statements in white text on the sides of black vans around the US, including a van stating Duck and Cover outside the White House. The artist has also previously worked with Creative Time on light projections in New York, for 2004 project For The City that coincided with the presidential election.

Creative Time said in a statement about Vigil: “These hauntingly sober first-person accounts serve both as an acknowledgement of communities impacted by gun violence and an invitation for dialogue around the prevalence of this issue in the United States.”

The works will be projected from 10-12 October 2019 nightly from 8pm.