Bruce Nauman’s 100 Live and Die is a spectacle. It’s 100 phrases of double-layered neon words paired with either “live” or “die” (“eat and die,” “red and live,” “come and die,” for example).

And it’s hard to shoot on film. Which is actually reassuring.

We did try. This video from the lowest level of the Henry Art Gallery testifies to the piece’s flashing, dislocating effect, but you can’t actually make out any of the words—until the end. Henry chief curator Liz Brown and I talk about Nauman, James Joyce, history painting, and 4:20, and then you get the money shots.

For more about the Nauman retrospective (at the Henry through May 6), my review is here.