<about> Please Change Beliefs
<by> Jenny Holzer
This site, while not by any means vast, is insightful and thought-provoking. In it Holzer urges her viewers to question the truisms which people take for granted. There are four basic sections to the site. From the main page one can click on flashing truisms to visit a section where she can read quickly-changing passages of text. These passages are depressing, apathetic, and generally bleak stream-of-consciousness style musings on life.
At the bottom of each page is the phrase PLEASE CHANGE BELIEFS. If the viewer clicks on PLEASE, she is taken back to the main page. CHANGE takes her to a section of the site in which she can select truisms from a list and either change or replace them. (I was reluctant to do so, as they are, after all, True, but as it turns out they are added to a new master list rather than to the original list. The truisms on the new list range from insightful to painful to joyous to playful to sarcastic.) Clicking on BELIEFS allows the viewer to survey the beliefs of past visitors to the site. She clicks check boxes next to a list of truisms, stating which she considers to be true, and then is shown how many people selected each one. It is fascinating to see what people believe.
Visiting this site makes the viewer wonder where Holzer came up with her truisms. It is fascinating to ponder the socalled truths that people take for granted.
<source> Maire McDermid