Jenny
Holzer began her career in the 1970s writing more than 250 “Truisms” that
convert common clichés into subversive texts, which she displayed using
light-emitting diodes to mimic news scrolls. Her contradictory and often
inflammatory phrases stream by—sometimes urgent, sometimes absurd—a reminder of
the subjectivity of truth and the power of language in a media-driven society.

In 2015 Holzer
reformatted the series, taking advantage of new technologies that allowed for
more colors and varying tempos as the texts scroll past. She commented: “The
effects vary from hyperactive to friendly to passive and beautiful. This array
of visuals is meant to elicit a variety of experiences and moods. Isms
includes soothing violet and blue glows that contrast with the
sometimes searing text, but at times the words become a hot red that is almost
like magma: At these moments the text is plasmatic, fiery and alive.”