Make tributes to the things you love
Pay attention to the things that expand your heart. When a person, a work of art, an essay, a film, a song, a photograph intrigues you, makes your chest feel bigger, gives rise to that warm feeling in your body, take note.
Lean into the possibility and expansion. Pull on the thread. Where else can it go? Ride the wave all the way to the shore. Ask yourself: what about this connected with my true self? What is the thing it’s saying for me I haven’t said yet?
I had these feelings earlier this fall, when I got to visit the Guggenheim for Jenny Holzer’s Light Line exhibit. I’ve loved Holzer’s truisms for years now. I barely felt my feet watching them scrolling across the edges of that gorgeous rotunda in person, the way they did in 1989, except at all 6 levels.
I’m not a visual artist. I relate to words more than anything. But I tried my best to notice all her visual choices. The various type treatments, effects, and speeds–what she did this year could not have been possible with the tech she had in 1989. All uppercase, always. You didn’t see the same thing for over 6 hours.
Holzer’s truisms are impossible not to stare at. They are provocative, memorable, funny, surprising, perfectly written. Every word a choice.
The web is my medium. It’s been a long time since I’ve made something with pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I couldn’t help but wonder how fun and easy it would be to scroll Holzer’s truisms randomly across a webpage, how mesmerizing that would be, impossible not to stare at. So I went ahead and gave it a try.