Recognition
Jenny Holzer was the first woman to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale in 1990, and for her pavilion she was awarded the Leone D'Oro that year. She has been the recipient of several important awards, including the Blair Award, presented by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1982, the Skowhegan Medal for Installation (1994), the Berlin Prize fellowship (2000), and a diploma of Chevalier from the Order of Arts and Letters from the French government (2002). In 2010, Holzer was given the MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts; Holzer had designed the bronze plaque in the early 1994, which features one of the artist’s truisms: “It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.”[38] She received the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in 1996 and the Barnard Medal of Distinction in 2011. Holzer also holds honorary degrees from Williams College, the Rhode Island School of Design, The New School, and Smith College.