In 2004, internationally acclaimed artist Jenny Holzer returned to New York City to launch For New York City: Planes and Projections, her first public art project in the city in over a decade. The two-part project—in the sky and on public landmarks—partially consisted of a squadron of airplanes that flew in succession along the Hudson River pulling banners emblazoned with texts, including Holzer’s Truisms and a quote from Abraham Lincoln.
The nighttime projections featured xenon poetry, in which the words of such acclaimed poets as Wislawa Szymborska, Yehuda Amichai, and Henri Cole were scrolled over New York sites—for instance, The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, The Cooper Union, and New York’s Hotel Pennsylvania—illuminating them with ideas of poignant beauty.
Photograph by Charlie Samuels
Jenny Holzer
For New York City: Planes and Projections
Manhattan
2004
