Access a slow-looking exercise of this work.

Transcript
Narrator: In the early 1980s, Jenny Holzer began presenting her text series "Living," from 1980 to 1982, and "Survival" from 1983 to 1985, on plaques of cast bronze and aluminum, and enamel on metal.  

The bronze and aluminum works are rectangular in shape, on average ten inches wide and 8 inches tall. Depending on their material, most of each plaque’s surface is roughly textured like an orange peel, and colored dark bronze or charcoal. Brightly polished bronze or aluminum letters in capitalized typeface are raised above a darker background. A polished border frames each plaque. At the four corners of each plaque is a circular screwhead.

Narrated by a screen reader, a bronze plaque from 1981, titled "Living: More people will be building hiding places...," reads,  

MORE PEOPLE WILL BE BUILDING 
HIDING PLACES IN THEIR 
HOMES, SMALL REFUGES THAT 
ARE UNDETECTABLE EXCEPT 
BY SOPHISTICATED DEVICES.

Another in aluminum, titled "Survival: It is in your self-interest..." and made in 1984, reads, 

IT IS IN YOUR SELF-INTEREST TO 
FIND A WAY TO BE VERY TENDER.

The enamel plaques reach up to about 20 inches wide and 25 inches tall, a flat sheet of metal coated with a smooth enameled surface. Lines of black text in capitalized letters contrast against the white background, and a thick black border frames the sign. The text is justified, each row neatly lined up one above the other on both left and right sides, which necessitates that some lines have wider or thinner letters.

Another in enamel titled "Living: You have to make thousands of precise..." was made in 1981 and reads,

YOU HAVE TO MAKE THOUSANDS OF PRECISE 
AND RAPID MOVEMENTS TO PREPARE A MEAL. 
CHOPPING, STIRRING, AND TURNING  
PREDOMINATE. AFTERWARDS, YOU STACK AND  
MAKE CIRCULAR CLEANING AND RINSING 
MOTIONS. SOME PEOPLE NEVER COOK BECAUSE 
THEY DON’T LIKE IT, SOME NEVER COOK 
BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOTHING TO EAT. 
FOR SOME, COOKING IS A ROUTINE,  
FOR OTHERS, AN ART.  

These plaques mimic the permanent labels that appear on historic buildings and take advantage of the authority of this familiar format to surprise readers with warnings, directions, and quiet observations.

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