Proceeding from a belief in the power of language as the basis for our outlook and actions, the exhibition considers ways artists rearrange and reconfigure communication structures as starting points.
Our lives are shaped by language: the signs we follow, the news we read, and the grammar of these forms all dictate how we experience the world. Direct Message: Art, Language, and Power focuses on the ways artists reveal patterns within communication, exploring how shared media platforms shape our lives.
Media and language based art, often considered to be separate strands of artistic practice, are brought together for this exhibition. This exhibition looks back to the ways artists used text in visual art beginning in the 1960s, providing a useful lens for understanding the ways language and media operate today.
Artists represented include Mel Bochner, Jenny Holzer, and Eugenio Dittborn, among others.