
Truisms (1978) - aratno
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~field/holzer/truisms.txt
======
bschne
I keep randomly returning to these, some great stuff in there. I also this
quote of Jenny Holzer from another artwork:

> There is a period when it is clear that you have gone wrong but you
> continue. Sometimes there is a luxurious amount of time before anything bad
> happens.

~~~
platz
what artwork?

~~~
nmcfarl
Jenny Holzer is an artist who’s work contains a lot of text and this text file
is lifted from some of her work in the truisms series. It might actually be
the entire text of the series.

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=TRUISMS+(1978-1983)+JENNY+HOLZER](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=TRUISMS+\(1978-1983\)+JENNY+HOLZER)

~~~
platz
i was asking about OP's "another artwork"

~~~
inetsee
A quick search on "artist Jenny Holzer" turns up plenty of results, including
a comprehensive Wikipedia page, an Artsy page, and quite a few others. A quick
look indicates that a fair amount of her work includes test based pieces,
including this example:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Holzer#/media/File:Jenny...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Holzer#/media/File:Jenny_Holzer,_%22Xenon%22.jpg)

~~~
platz
It appears the OP's quote was from "The Living Series"

------
DavidVoid
Seeing Jenny Holzer on here was a pleasant surprise!

    
    
        ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE
    

is probably one of my favorite of her truisms. On a similar note, her
_Inflammatory Essays_ (1979-1982) are a good read too [1].

Her more recent work _Projections_ doesn't involve much of her own writing but
it's interesting nonetheless (both the texts and the medium). She talks about
it a bit in this video [2].

And I quite like her _Redaction Paintings_ that were made from redacted
military files [3].

[1] [https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/holzer-inflammatory-
ess...](https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/holzer-inflammatory-
essays-65434/10)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeOOFKzQxS0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeOOFKzQxS0)

[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Cidvahl6c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Cidvahl6c)

------
rhezab
DFW in IJ: "The clichéd directives are a lot more deep and hard to actually
do. To try and live by instead of just say... So then at forty-six years or
age I came here to live by clichés... One day at a time. Easy does it. First
things first. Courage is fear that has said its prayers. Ask for help. Thy
will not mine be done. It works if you work it. Grow or go. Keep coming back."

------
iron0013
This doesn’t include a lot of post-1983 Truisms which are just as good. My
favorite might be “Someone Wants To Cut A Hole In You And Fuck You Through It,
Buddy”

~~~
willchang
Here's another list of them:
[https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~field/holzer/living.txt](https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~field/holzer/living.txt)

~~~
stronglikedan
Those seem more like musings than truisms.

------
hbarka
I love how there’s contradictions, like how for “All good things come to those
who wait” meets “Early bird catches the worm”.

~~~
sixstringtheory
I guess a good response to this is

> A SENSE OF TIMING IS THE MARK OF GENIUS

------
ak39
CALM IS MORE CONDUCTIVE TO CREATIVITY THAN IS ANXIETY

Conductive or conducive?

------
tingletech
I used to eat at her green table sometimes when I worked in the cafeteria
right next door
[https://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artist/holzer.html](https://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artist/holzer.html)

------
sixstringtheory
Some good couplets...

As corollaries for the hardest problem in computer science:

> A NAME MEANS A LOT JUST BY ITSELF

> SYMBOLS ARE MORE MEANINGFUL THAN THINGS THEMSELVES

As advice to myself because I love refactoring:

> ABSTRACTION IS A TYPE OF DECADENCE

> DECADENCE CAN BE AN END IN ITSELF

------
pmiller2
Noting the date and utexas.edu, I was expecting something from the EWD
archive. After some mild disappointment, this did seem to actually feed my
underlying desire for some curmudgeonly wisdom.

------
luspr
"ANY SURPLUS IS IMMORAL" "AUTOMATION IS DEADLY"

... wait, what?

~~~
platz
ANY SURPLUS IS IMMORAL

if you're operating efficiently, and generate or take only what you need, you
aren't generating surplus.

surplus could be read as greed, decadence, or even waste

AUTOMATION IS DEADLY

do it yourself, retain the know-how yourself. self-sufficience. don't rely on
externalities. natural processes are more, well, natural. machines tend to
exploit and create imbalance.

~~~
tgv
> surplus could be read as greed, decadence, or even waste

Or as a buffer. E.g., who knew that overcapacity in a hospital could be
beneficial? So once more, the veracity of such statements depends on the
context.

~~~
platz
Your statement is 100% correct but misses the entire point

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22854475](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22854475)

------
fineiguess
[http://catandgirl.com/girl-plays-games/](http://catandgirl.com/girl-plays-
games/)

------
juliend2
> YOU HAVE TO HURT OTHERS TO BE EXTRAORDINARY

I wonder what he meant by that.

~~~
TomMckenny
I presume it's an observation, not advice. That often those who are called
exceptional have some skeletons in their closest. That there are more statues
of Jefferson Davis than Harriet Tubman.

~~~
human_person
I read it as a warning. Life is full of tradeoffs, to be extraordinary in one
area requires you to neglect or ignore other aspects of life. In the end
people will be hurt.

------
segfaultbuserr
What is the context/background of this artwork?

------
gowld
convertcase.net to the rescue.

------
DenisM
Truism is a truism is a truism.

I dare you to top this.

------
blacksqr
"The new disease came."

------
shok3001
> truism: a statement that is obviously true and says nothing new or
> interesting.

Just scanning through these I wouldn't label all of them "truisms." For
example,

> ANY SURPLUS IS IMMORAL

and

> AUTOMATION IS DEADLY

I wouldn't consider either of these "obviously true."

~~~
whoisjuan
Just to be clear these are not really truisms. This is an art piece by Jenny
Holzer and its name is "Truisms" (doesn't necessarily mean that they are all
actual truisms, that's just the name she gave to this particular work).

In "Truisms" she created printed versions of an erudite reading list she
compiled when she was a student. She distributed them anonymously by pasting
printed versions around NYC's fences and walls.
([https://www.sutori.com/story/pop-culture-and-art-jenny-
holze...](https://www.sutori.com/story/pop-culture-and-art-jenny-holzer--
zsHvbvCpNY4Ebt9xRjAdpRRV)). She also did leaflets and other printed versions
of this.

All of Holzer's art concepts are very much like this. Her goal is to use
public venues as a medium to deliver thought-provoking ideas and display
daring written commentary.

~~~
triangleman
She also created LED signs that cycled through these phrases.

Also for a more artistic rendition on the web:

[https://mfx.dasburo.com/art/truisms.html](https://mfx.dasburo.com/art/truisms.html)

~~~
dejj
Double checked to be sure that "KILL ALL HUMANS" is not among them

