Opening the exhibition “Jenny Holzer: Wrong Answers,” in the first gallery, one sees the US president, Donald Trump—or rather, an image of Donald Trump. The image alludes to the surrealism of Belgian painter René Magritte, author of “Ceci n’est pas une Pipe” (This is not a pipe). Magritte’s work demonstrates that what we see is only the image of an object, not its reality, as Philippe Vergne explained during the press visit.

In this first part of the exhibition, visitors also encounter hundreds of short, inspiring phrases about the fight for freedom.

With Jenny Holzer, language is used as a succession of veritable punches to the gut. There are “Truisms” (1977-79), short statements that highlight the social construction of beliefs, customs, and truths. “Inflammatory Essays” (1979-82) features provocative statements influenced by political and religious manifestos. “Living” (1980-82) presents discreet observations, guidance, and warnings written in a direct tone. The exhibition also includes other categories.

One excerpt from the exhibition reads: "Freedom, period! You’re so afraid that you want to imprison everyone. Are they rabid dogs? Are they hunting to kill? Is law and order the solution? Not a chance. What caused this situation? Lack of freedom. And now let people satisfy their needs. Is freedom constructive or destructive? The answer is obvious. Free people are good people. Productive. Is liberation dangerous? Only when it is delayed. People are not born furious or deranged. When you punish and humiliate, you cause what you fear. What to do? Let it explode. Let it run its course. Don’t control or manipulate. Repair the damage." The text is presented in both English and Portuguese at the exhibition.

On the sidelines of his last press visit as director of the Serralves Museum, Philippe Vergne spoke about the exhibition. He is also the curator. He stated that, since the end of the 70s, Jenny Holzer has always been one of the artists who never compromised on the form and content of her works.

“Today, Jenny Holzer is an icon. A public icon. She is a public artist who, through the use of text – which has a whole history that begins with artists like Stéphane Mallarmé or Marcel Broodthaers or Carl André, or conceptual art – pushes this use of text towards a content that, in line with conceptual art, is not self-reflexive, but projects ideas and
narratives that, most of the time, have a political and politically human dimension,” declared Philippe Vergne.

Vergne, who begins work at the Bass Museum in Miami, USA, in October, said that “Wrong Answers” ​​is a kind of installation that travels through the various materials the artist has used throughout her 45 decades of work, using painted paper, historical texts, sarcophagi, stone benches, ethically sourced human bones, LED technology associated with information and advertising animated by robotic systems, metal and
oil sheets, broken stones, government documents manually transferred to linen and overlaid with oil paint and metallic sheets.

Jenny Holzer created an “installation where all these texts explode together in a kind of uncontrollable chaos, which is the chaos of the world,” she adds.

The exhibition continues with “another gallery, a more meditative room, with more disciplined LED technology, but fed by information that [Jenny Holzer] found in the press more than a week ago. It is a piece that reacted immediately to current events.”

In the third and final part of the exhibition, the public can see in the Serralves library a kind of archive where the artist's early drawings are gathered, the text begins to appear, and the first sketches of her essays show how Jenny Holzer works with these texts.

“These are texts that are worked on, that are written; they always seem very simple, very succinct, but there is an enormous amount of work that goes on behind the scenes, before reaching that precision.”

Documents have also been discovered about how her work occasionally integrates into vernacular and popular culture, such as Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), who is photographed in front of a text by Jenny Holzer, Jodie Foster in a Dennis Hopper film that is filled with Jenny Holzer's works, and also how she used merchandising to disseminate her text.

The exhibition “Jenny Holzer: Wrong Answers” is on display at Serralves until 1 November.