A LOGO FOR AMERICA
—ALFREDO JAAR

1987/2018
Digital animation, originally commissioned by The Public Art Fund
Times Square, New York, April 1987

Alfredo Jaar’s prescient work A Logo for America (1987) was a point of departure for the inaugural Faena Festival (2018) in its exploration of America as a place, concept, and myth. The piece was presented on an LED jumbotron mounted on a boat navigating the Miami Beach shoreline. The monumental text- and image-based animated work, originally commissioned by The Public Art Fund for the giant electronic billboard marking the heart of New York’s Times Square, featured the text This Is Not America emblazoned across an outline map of the United States that morphed into the entire Western Hemisphere from a variety of perspectives, including from South to North, challenging the traditional view of the geopolitical makeup of America.