Jenny Holzer's Satirical Spoon

Here's what you need to know about Jenny Holzer's MONEY CREATES TASTE (2007), a special benefit edition created in partnership with SculptureCenter.

1. Between 1977 and 1979, Jenny Holzer wrote approximately 300 “Truisms”—aphorisms such as “Protect Me From What I Want” that she wrote to dispel the “usual baloney [people] are fed” through advertising. 

2. Holzer’s “Truisms” have since been carved into marble, projected on public buildings, displayed in United States embassies, and otherwise disseminated worldwide, becoming one of the most famous works of contemporary art.

3. For this piece, the artist engraved a silver soup spoon with the phrase “Money Creates Taste,” playing on the cliché of being born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth (and on varieties of taste).

4. In 1990, Holzer became the first woman to represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale, winning the Golden Lion for her pavilion in which she streamed her “Truisms” on dozens of electric tickers that lined the walls.