LOVE LETTERS in the Kunstzelle is an installation, a participatory experiment, a declaration of love to love letters and to the oeuvre of Jenny Holzer in a former telephone booth turned into a gallery in the courtyard of the WUK cultural centre, featuring in the Vienna Art Week 2023 programme.
The installation consisted of four LED tickers, each of them displaying thematic text fragments running non-stop for a three-month period from 16.11.2023 until 09.02.2024:
> Joonas Lahtinen's personal letter to the US American artist Jenny Holzer whose LED based works since the 1980’s have had a profound impact on his own artistic practice and approach to the dynamics between text, space and performance
> Jenny Holzer's interview quotes on writing, love, being an artist, and tickers as an artistic medium
> Statements and theory fragments on the cultural histor/ies, contemporary discourses, and societal contextualization of love letter writing and fandom
> Love letters and fan letters contributed to the installation by the public, either via email, or in the "Meet & Greet" events hosted by the artist onsite, via a specific smartphone app
The Opening of LOVE LETTERS in the Kunstzelle included a talk between the cultural theorist, curator and Professor Elke Krasny and Joonas Lahtinen on art historical, cultural and sociopolitical contexts of love letters and of letter writing, the “confessional society”, politics of participatory art, and the relation between the “public” and the “private”, based on the installation. After the talk, the first love letters and messages by visitors were integrated into the installation.
The contents of the letters by the public ranged from seemingly personal and autobiographical accounts of shared memories and moments with present or past partners, expressions of joy of decade-long friendships as well as poetic declarations of love and of being a fan of a specific artist, to humorous one-liner remarks, in four languages: German, English, Italian and Spanish.
Detailed analysis of and reflection on the participatory aspects of LOVE LETTERS in the Kunstzelle will be provided in a forthcoming article (2025), more info to follow!
List of sources referenced in the installation:
-Acosta, Taylor J. (2019): “A Fan’s Notes: Thomas Hirschhorn’s Material History”, in: Grant, Catherine and Random Love, Kate (eds.): Fandom as Methodology. A Sourcebook for Artists and Writers. London: Goldsmiths Press, 25–44.
-Bauman, Zygmunt and Lyon, David (2013): Liquid Surveillance. A Conversation. Cambridge (UK) and Malden (MA): Polity Press.
-Beck, Christa et. al.: ”How to Write a Love Letter”, wikihow, https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Love-Letter [accessed 10.10.2023]
-Bordaz, Jean-Pierre (1987): “Jenny Holzer and the Spectacle of Communication”, Parkett 13, 1987.
-Jensen, Joli (1992): “Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization”, in: Lewis, Lisa A. (ed.): The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media. London: Routledge.
-Joselit, David (1998): “Voices, bodies and spaces: the art of Jenny Holzer”, in: Joselit, David et.al. (eds.): Jenny Holzer. London: Phaidon, 42–77.
-Kalenak, Maggie (2023): “‘Consider yourself kissed’: Intimacy, Engagement, and Material Culture in Nineteenth-Century Middle-Class English Love Letters”, Journal of Victorian Culture, Volume 28, Issue 2, April 2023, 243–262.
-Smith, Kiki (2012): “Interview: Jenny Holzer”, Interview Magazine, March 2012
-Glueck, Grace (1989): “And Now, a Few Words from Jenny Holzer”, The New York Times, Dec 3 1989, 42. -Newest York Team (2018): “IN CONVERSATION: JENNY HOLZER + LILI HOLZER-GLIER“, Newest York, Issue 2018, http://www.newestyork.co/18-holzer-in-conversation [accessed 10.10.2023]
-Waldman, Diana (1989): “The Language of Signs”, in: Waldman, Diana: Jenny Holzer. New York: Harry N. Abrams and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 9–14.
-ART 21.org: Jenny Holzer: Writing and Difficulty, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITFSG3pdW0 [accessed 10.10.2023]
