Alfredo JaarOther People Think, 2012
‘Other People Think’ is a conceptual lightbox work by Alfredo Jaar that draws its title from an early essay delivered by composer John Cage in 1927. In that text, Cage urged Americans to listen to and learn from Latin American voices, challenging the cultural hierarchies that shaped hemispheric relations. Jaar created the work on the centenary of Cage’s birth, transforming this overlooked historical appeal into a contemporary call for cross-cultural reflection. As a Chilean artist based in the United States, Jaar uses the piece to highlight enduring asymmetries in cultural representation and to foreground the importance of ethical listening in global discourse.
The work consists of a backlit black-and-white transparency housed in a lightbox, bearing the stark white phrase “OTHER PEOPLE THINK” in capital letters across a dark background. The simplicity of its form belies the conceptual weight it carries. By isolating this phrase and rendering it with luminous precision, Jaar compels the viewer to confront questions about whose perspectives are valued, whose knowledge is marginalised, and what it means to acknowledge the thoughts of others. Operating at the intersection of language, power and perception, the work becomes both a visual meditation and a quiet political statement – urging recognition, humility and a more expansive cultural awareness.
