ALFREDO JAAR

(Santiago, 1956)

Based in New York since 1982, Alfredo Jaar creates installations, photographs and videos that reflect upon the constant flow of images and their efficacy in communicating and representing events. One of his most iconic works, A Logo for America (1987), is a 45-second animation that alternates a series of images and which was displayed in Times Square, New York. The first image superimposes the text “This is not America” on the silhouette of the map of the United States; then, he superimposes the phrase “This is not America’s Flag” on the US flag; ; the last one simply reads “America,” with the silhouette of the American continent covering the letter “R.” At first glance, the work tries to re-establish a link between image and text. The presence of cartographic elements, however, alludes to the propagation of nation states, while the use of a light screen, especially in that context, and the inclusion of the world “logo” in the title evokes strategies of advertising campaigns. A Logo for America can be taken as a linguistic exercise inasmuch as a media battle.