The Scout was lucky enough to attend the opening last night of Jenny Holzer’s new solo show PROTECT PROTECT at the Whitney. Despite the current pervasive feeling of economic doom and perhaps the nature of Holzer’s work, the atmosphere was very jovial throughout the exhibits. Holzer’s show is composed of a number of paintings and prints in her ‘Redaction’ series (redacted/transformed government documents) and more notably a number of large scale LED works. The ‘Stock Ticker’ like installations project words and phrases similar to Holzer’s other works – ‘true-isms’ and government double-talk from the Iraq War. The LED works are beautiful as a pure aesthetic, but taken in the context of the current economic crisis their image alone evokes something powerful and emotional, regardless of the text. It’s definitely worth the trip. While you’re there its definitely worth checking out the other exhibitions, including a fantastic Doug Aitken video installation in ‘Sites’ on the 3rd floor.

PROTECT PROTECT opens today, the 12th of March, and runs through the 20th of May.