DETROIT, MI (October 28, 2020) —The Detroit Institute of Arts is among dozens of fixed and mobile sites nationwide hosting a series of artworks envisioned by New York-based artist Jenny Holzer for the YOU VOTE campaign. DIA’s participation in the project will be in the form of a light projection on the Woodward façade of the museum, held from 7-11 p.m. each evening, Thursday, October 29 to Saturday, October 31, 2020. 

YOU VOTE has had an active presence in Detroit throughout the month of October. On October 12-13 and 24-25, LED trucks with get-out-the-vote messaging took to the streets in Detroit to champion broad political engagement, issue awareness, and voter empowerment. For the latest run, the vehicles launched at the Detroit Institute of Arts and then headed to the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center to celebrate national Vote Early Day with the Pistons. The trucks visited landmarks including the Motown Museum, the University of Detroit Mercy, the Little Rock Historic Baptist Church, the Coleman A. Young Community and Municipal Centers, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Alger Theater, and the Gateway to Freedom International Memorial, all in an effort to build voter excitement and celebrate early voting. 

YOU VOTE foregrounds the voices of citizens, activists and get-out-the-vote efforts, joining forces with established organizations ranging from sports franchises to universities to cultural institutions. YOU VOTE employs fleets of LED vehicles, light projections, billboards, theater marquees, murals, a variety of street level advertising, and social media animations to encourage civic participation ahead of Election Day. Forty billboards around the United States feature messages such as PROTECT YOURSELF and BE AN ALLY and will be on view through November. Phrases featured in Holzer’s singular style are drawn from texts authored by many, centered on issues of social and economic justice, gun control, climate change, immigration, voting rights, voter suppression and the erosion of fundamental democratic pillars such as truth, the rule of law, and government accountability. 

Of the initiative, DIA’s director Salvador Salort-Pons said, “As a relatively new citizen of the United States, one of the most important privileges I gained is the right to vote. This year in particular, it is critical that all of us exercise that right in order to have a voice in the future of our nation, our states and our communities. Art provokes, connects and calls us to action – through this project, we hope those who feel they have not been heard are moved to have their say at the ballot box.” 

Download an artwork here to share on social media. Join the conversation by tagging @jennyholzerstudio and using the hashtag #YOUVOTE. 

YOU VOTE Partners

Cultural Institutions & Universities

• Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
• Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin
• Madison Arts Commission, Madison, Wisconsin
• The Miller Institute for Contemporary Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• The Rail Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina
• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Event Partner

Fridays for Unity event series, with media partner Rolling Stone magazine (*events will be broadcast from Rolling Stone YouTube page on October 16, October 23 and October 30)

Professional Sports Teams

• Milwaukee Bucks & Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI
• Detroit Pistons, Detroit, Michigan    

Voting Partners      

• Bucks Vote | nba.com/bucks/vote
• Rock the Vote | rockthevote.org

Additional Partners 

Orange Barrel Media | Art for Action

LED Vehicle Schedule 

• September 28 - Raleigh, North Carolina
• October 5-6 - Charlotte, North Carolina
• October 12-13 - Madison, Wisconsin
• October 12-13: Detroit, Michigan
• October 14-15: Flint, Michigan
• October 15: Miami, Florida
• October 19-20: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
• October 20-21: Raleigh, North Carolina 
• October 22-23: Durham, North Carolina
• October 22-23: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• October 24-25: Detroit, Michigan 
• October 26-27: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• October 26-27: Miami, Florida 
• October 26-27: Milwaukee, Wisconsin  
• October 29-30: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• October 31-Nov 1: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• October 31-November 1: Flint, Michigan
• November 1-2: Washington D.C.
• November 2: Miami, Florida

About Jenny Holzer

For more than forty years, Jenny Holzer has presented her astringent ideas, arguments, and sorrows in public places and international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Her medium, whether formulated as a T-shirt, a plaque, or an LED sign, is writing, and the public dimension is integral to the delivery of her work. Starting in the 1970s with the New York City posters, and continuing through her recent light projections on landscape and architecture, her practice has rivaled ignorance and violence with humor, kindness, and courage. Holzer received the Leone d’Oro at the Venice Biennale in 1990, the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award in 1996, and the Barnard Medal of Distinction in 2011.  In 2017, she received the U.S. Department of State’s Medal of Arts Award for her longtime contributions to Art in Embassies and cultural diplomacy. In 2019, she received The University of Chicago’s Jesse L. Rosenberger Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Creative and Performing Arts.  Holzer holds honorary degrees from Williams College, the Rhode Island School of Design, The New School, and Smith College. She lives and works in New York. 

About Detroit Institute of Arts

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), one of the premier art museums in the United States, is home to more than 60,000 works that comprise a multicultural survey of human creativity from ancient times through the 21st century. From the first Van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum (Self-Portrait, 1887), to Diego Rivera's world-renowned Detroit Industry murals (1932–33), the DIA’s collection is known for its quality, range and depth. The DIA’s mission is to create opportunities for all visitors to find personal meaning in art.

Image caption (additional images available):

YOU VOTE 2020

LED trucks

Detroit, Michigan, USA

© 2020 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Photo: Joe Gall