In partnership with the MCA exhibition Jenny Holzer: PROTECT PROTECT, the Merchandise Mart is proud to host a public projection of a text-based work on November 3, beginning at 7 p.m. and ending at Midnight...

This extraordinary event- a politically charged public art project on the eve of one of the most important presidential elections in living history—marks the Merchandise Mart as the largest building ever to host a Jenny Holzer projection.

According to the MCA, Holzer is “considered one of the most significant and pioneering contemporary artists, both for her approach to language and for her use of nontraditional media and public settings for her work.” Perhaps best known for socially provocative projects that use LED technology to display appropriated text drawn from poetry, literature, and historical documents, Jenny Holzer has long held a firm place in the art canon.

By working with the MCA, one of Chicago’s most important cultural institutions, on this unprecedented event, the Merchandise Mart further cements itself as a critical presence in both the Chicago and international art communities.

“The Merchandise Mart has decades-long history of supporting the arts,” notes Tony Karman, vice president of Art Chicago. “Jenny Holzer was displayed by Chicago’s own Rhona Hoffman Gallery at Art Chicago 2008, and now she’ll be displayed to the entirety of the city during this epic project.”

Holzer’s projection will draw from the poetry of Wislawa Szymborska, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. The text will blanket the enormous south face of The Mart, projected from across the Chicago River.

For more information on this public art event, please contact Kasey Madden, director of public relations, Art Chicago at 312.527.3357 or kmadden@artchicago.com.