Lynn Hershman Leeson
Lynn Hershman Leeson | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Lynn Lester Hershman June 17, 1941[1] Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
Education | Case Western Reserve University, San Francisco State University |
Occupation(s) | Artist, filmmaker, new media art |
Known for | |
Notable work |
|
Awards |
|
Website | lynnhershman |
Lynn Hershman Leeson (née Lynn Lester Hershman;
Hershman Leeson has been described as a "new media pioneer" for her integration of emerging technologies into her work.[6]
Early life and education
Lynn Hershman was born in 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio.[4][7] Her father, who had immigrated to the United States from Montreal,[8] was a pharmacist, and her mother was a biologist. She reports experiencing both physical abuse and sexual abuse during her childhood.[9]
In 1963, Hershman graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education, Museum Administration and Fine Arts from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland,[8] after which she studied painting at the University of California, Berkeley.[9] While she dropped out of Berkeley, she completed a Master of Fine Arts degree from San Francisco State University in 1972.[8] One aspect of Hershman's master's thesis involved writing art criticism under three pseudonyms: Prudence Juris, Herbert Goode and Gay Abandon.[8] She received an honorary Ph.D degree from Pratt Institute in 2023.[10]
Career
Hershman Leeson's work concerns identity, consumerism, privacy in an era of surveillance, interfacing of humans and machines, feminism, violence, artificial intelligence and identity theft through algorithms and data tracking, and the relationship between real and virtual worlds. Her work grew out of an installation art and performance tradition, with an emphasis on interactivity.[11]
Her projects explore technology in digital media and science. Hershman Leeson was the first artist to launch an interactive piece using
Work by Hershman Leeson is featured in the public collections of the
From 1993 to 2004, Hershman Leeson taught at the University of California, Davis, where she is currently a professor emerita.[15] She was named chair of the San Francisco Art Institute film department in 2007.[16] She also served as an A. D. White Professor at Large at Cornell University and was the 2013–2014 Dorothy H. Hirshon "Director in Residence" at The New School.[17][18]
Work
Early works
Hershman Leeson's earlier works drew interest from themes within science fiction and assemblages of the human body and sexuality. After suffering from cardiomyopathy while pregnant in 1965, Leeson, created her piece Breathing Machine, composed of wax castes of her own face with dyes and assemblages as well as the recordings of her struggled breathing during her illness. The recording includes the voice asking the viewer a series of personal and uncomfortable questions.[9]
Her 1968 piece Breathing Machine II is composed of a wax face with a wig and butterflies contained in a wood and plexiglass display, expressing the a dichotomy of life and entrapment within the female body. Shaped by her experiences, Leeson's early works were political in nature and characterized as being closer inspections of femininity and gender roles.[19]
Alter egos
From 1974 until 1978, Hershman Leeson 'developed' a fictional persona and alter ego named "Roberta Breitmore." It consisted not only of a physical self-transformation through make-up, clothing, and wigs, but a fully-fledged personality existing over an extended period of time and whose existence could be proven in the world through physical evidence: from a driver's license and credit card to letters from her psychiatrist.[20][21]
This was later taken to further lengths when Hershman Leeson introduced another three 'Robertas', by hiring other performers to enact her character. These 'clones' of Roberta adopted the same look and attire, engaged in some of Roberta's correspondence and also went on some of Roberta (Hershman Leeson's) dates. Towards the end, the 'original' Roberta withdrew from her character leaving the three 'clones' to continue her work, until they were retired in a performance at the
Between 1995 and 2000 Roberta transformed into the CybeRoberta, an interactive artificial intelligent sculpture on the web. In 2006 Roberta Breitmore developed into a character in
Lorna (1983)
Described as the was first interactive laser artdisk art project,[3] Hershman Leeson's 1983 work Lorna tells the story of an agoraphobic woman who never left her one-room apartment. As Lorna watched the news and advertisements, watched the news and ads, she became fearful, afraid to leave her tiny room. Viewers were invited to liberate Lorna from her fears, using remote control units, and have the option of directing her life into several possible plots and endings.[23]
The plot has multiple variations that can be seen backwards, forwards, at increased or decreased speeds, and from several points of view. There is no hierarchy in the ordering of decisions. And the icons were often made of cut-off and dislocated body parts such as a mouth, or an eye.[23]
Room of One's Own (1990–1993)
From 1990 to 1993, Lynn Hershman Leeson produced a project called Room of One's Own.[24] The project is said to be inspired by Thomas Edison's kinetograph, a device where a film is displayed on loop and an individual is allowed to view it through a peephole.[25] The project, Room of One’s Own, allows the viewer to peer inside of a box through a small periscopic device and see a bed, telephone, chair, television, and some clothes on the floor.[26] In the back of the small room, a woman appears on a screen and it is there where she asks the following: “What are you doing here? Please look somewhere else!”.[26] There are about 17 segments and depending on where the viewer is focusing, a different video plays in the back wall.[26] Throughout the experience, the viewer is positioned to be a voyeur, an individual who gains sexual gratification by watching an unsuspecting individual either partly undress, get naked or engage in sexual activities, but any pleasure that is gained, is quickly frustrated in many different ways.[26] At the end, the viewer's reflection is shown in a small television in the back of the room.[26]
Agent Ruby
Hershman Leeson created the "Agent Ruby" website as a companion to her 2002 film Teknolust.[3] Agent Ruby's conversations with online users shaped her memory, knowledge, and moods. In 2013 the SFMOMA presented Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Agent Ruby Files,[3] a digital and analog presentation which reinterpreted dialogues drawn from the decade-long archive of text files of Agent Ruby's conversations with online users to reflect on technologies, recurrent themes, and patterns of audience engagement.[27]
Films and documentaries
Lynn Hershman Leeson has directed 26 films, including six feature-length films.[28] According to Leeson:[22]
The films are all about loss and technology. Ada Lovelace invented computer language, but was never credited and was basically erased from history. Teknolust is about artificial intelligence clones: the bots that escape into reality and interact with human life, in effect a symbiosis between technological life and human life, and how the two can marry. Strange Culture again was about misidentity, where the media created a fictional character that they blame this crime on, rather than the actual person. All of these works are about erasure of identity and how technology adds to it and creates it. And how you can defeat that.
A 1990 documentary, Desire Inc. features a series of seductive television ads in which a sexy woman asked for viewers to call her.[5]
Hershman Leeson's six feature films -
As part of her 2014 exhibition "How To Disappear," she premiered her video The Ballad of JT LeRoy, The concept of an alter ego is not new at all. Writers have been protecting themselves in that way for centuries. Mary Shelley did it. Of course Laura took this practice further and I think that was very smart and I do not think she deserves the kind of condemnation that she got. If I had done the Roberta thing ten years later, I would have faced the same problems. In 2017, Leeson released her latest film, Tania Libre, composed of the therapy sessions between Cuban-artist and activist Tanya Bruguera and Dr. Frank M. Ochberg revolving around the subjects of political surveillance, past trauma and the aftermath of imprisonment in Havana after her prior advocating for freedom of expression.[32]
Retrospectives
A 2007 retrospective at the
In 2014 The ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art in Karlsruhe, Germany held "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar", a retrospective of work. The ZKM Museum described the retrospective as having "realized the first retrospective which not only ensures an overview of all creative phases in Leeson's oeuvre but also the most recent productions of this innovative artist."[33] While encompassing a wide body of Hershman's work throughout the years, as an exhibition, "Civic Radar" highlights Hershman's interest in technology, looking closely at artificial intelligence and genetic modification. In 2017, "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar," Hershman's retrospective from ZKM was hosted at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California.[34]
In 2021, the New Museum in New York City hosted the first solo museum exhibition in New York of Hershman Leeson's work, entitled Twisted.[35] The New Museum described the exhibition as bringing "together a selection of Hershman Leeson’s work in drawing, sculpture, video, and photography, along with interactive and net-based works, focusing on themes of transmutation, identity construction, and the evolution of the cyborg. Filling the New Museum’s Second Floor galleries, this presentation [included] some of the artist’s most important projects, including wax-cast Breathing Machine sculptures (1965–68) and selections from hundreds of early drawings from the 1960s, many of which [were never] exhibited before."[35] The exhibition also included works from the Roberta Breitmore series (1973–78), her video Seduction of a Cyborg (1994) and selections from the series Water Women (1976–present), Phantom Limb (1985–88), Cyborg (1996–2006), Infinity Engine (2014–present), and other works.[35] The exhibition was curated by Margot Norton, Allen and Lola Goldring Curator, and was accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with contributions by Karen Archey and Martine Syms, and an interview with Lynn Hershman Leeson conducted by Margot Norton.[35]
Exhibitions
![]() | This section of a poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. )Find sources: "Lynn Hershman Leeson" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2021) |
Solo exhibitions
- 2001, Media & Identity, Sweeney Art Gallery, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California
- 2005, Hershmanlandia, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- 2008, No Body Special, De Young Museum, San Francisco, California[36]
- 2008, The Floating Museum (1975–1978): Lynn Hershman Leeson, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, California
- 2012, Me as Roberta, Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Krakow, Poland[37]
- 2012, Seducing Time, Retrospective, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, Germany[38]
- 2012, W.A.R. Documentary screening, Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
- 2012, W.A.R. Documentary screening, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
- 2013, Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Agent Ruby Files, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMa), San Francisco, California[39]
- 2014, Pop Departures, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington[40]
- 2014, Taking a Stand Against War, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
- 2014, Vertigo of Reality, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany[41]
- 2014, How to Disappear, Aanant & Zoo, Berlin, Germany[30][31][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]
- 2014–2015, Civic Radar. Lynn Hershman Leeson - The Retrospective, ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany[49]
- 2015, Lynn Hershman Leeson: Origins of the Species (Part 2), Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom[50]
- 2016, Liquid Identities - Lynn Hershman Leeson, Identities of the 21st Century, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany[51]
- 2016, Cyborgs and Self-Promotion, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio[51]
- 2016, Lynn Hershman Leeson: Body Collage, Armory Gallery, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia[51]
- 2016, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Ruth C. Horton Gallery, Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia[51]
- 2017, Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California[51]
- 2017–2018, VertiGhost, Legion of Honor museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, California[52]
- 2018, Lynn Hershman Leeson: A Manual for Automatons, Bionic Beings and Cyborgs, 1962-1982, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, California[53]
- 2019, First Person Plural, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain[51]
- 2019, Lorna, Thoma Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico[51]
- 2021, Lynn Hershman Leeson: Twisted, New Museum, New York City, New York[54]
- 2024, Anti-Aging, Bridget Donahue, New York City, New York[55]
Group exhibitions
- 2013–2014, New Acquisitions in Photography, Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), New York City, New York
- 2013–2014, Dissident Futures, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California[56]
- 2014, Post Speculation, P! gallery, New York City, New York[57]
- 2014, Women: Seeing and Being Seen, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California.[58]
- 2019–2020, Manual Override, The Shed, New York City, New York[59]
Grants and awards
In 2023, Leeson received honorary awards from Creative Capital The Mill Valley Film Festival, The Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco).
Leeson has been honored with grants from
In 2014, IFP Pixel Market Prize went to The Infinity Engine starring
Leeson was also featured in the Women's eNews "21 Leaders for the 21st Century" special in 2014 for her role in empowering young female artists to strengthen their artistic voices. Her documentary !W.A.R. raises awareness for the fact that the art world is a male-dominated realm and explores the many influential works of female artists over the decades.[67]
In 2004, Stanford University Libraries acquired Hershman Leeson's working archive.[68] Stanford also acquired a collection of the interviews compiled for Hershman Leeson's 2010 documentary !Women Art Revolution.[69]
In 2018, The Women's Caucus for Art awarded Hershman Leeson with the Lifetime Achievement Award, in Los Angeles.[70]
Lynn Hershman Leeson has been awarded a special mention from the Jury for her participation in the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia – The Milk of Dreams. The award was presented with the following motivation: “for indexing the cybernetic concerns that run through the exhibitions in an illuminating and powerful way that also includes visionary moments of her early practice that foresaw the influence of technology in our everyday lives.”[14]
Personal life
Hershman Leeson is based in San Francisco, California.[7] In 1991, she married George Leeson, adding his last name to her own; some of her earlier work is still presented under the name Lynn Hershman.[5]
Hershman Leeson's daughter, Dawn L. Hershman, is an oncologist who researches breast cancer at Columbia University.[71] Hershman Leeson has two grandchildren, Noa and Eli.[72]
References
- ^ "Timeline". Lynn Hershman Leeson. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "The Flickering Flame takes out the ARTE International Prize for The Pixel Market 2014". October 14, 2014. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Bravo, Tony (April 6, 2022). "At 80, S.F. artist celebrated by industry that once shunned her". Datebook | San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- ^ a b "Lynn Hershman Leeson". art21.org. Retrieved 2019-09-08.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-23970-8.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-907071-80-5.
- ^ a b c d "Lynn Hershman (biography)". www.fondation-langlois.org. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
- ^ a b c Greenberger, Alex. "A New Future from the Passed: Lynn Hershman Leeson Comes into Her Own After 50 Years of Prophetic Work". ARTnews. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Commencement 2023 to Be Held on May 17 at Radio City Music Hall". Pratt Institute. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ Wardrip-Fruin, Noah, and Nick Montfort, eds. The New Media Reader. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003, p. 643.
- ^ a b The Importance of Being Roberta, Katerina Gregos (2011)
- ^ "The Collection". dirosaart.org. 16 June 2010. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
- ^ a b "Lynn Hershman Leeson". Lynn Hershman Leeson. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson". UC Davis. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "SFAI Proudly Welcomes Lynn Hershman Leeson as New Head of Its Film Department". e-flux. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- .
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Film Screening and Q&A". The New School. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Origins of the Species (Part 2) review – always alert to the future". The Guardian. 2015-05-31. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ "Breitmore, Roberta (Lynn Hershman Leeson)". fictive.arts.uci.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-11-10. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
- ^ Finkel, Jori (2005-11-27). "Pardon Me But the Art is Mouthing Off". New York Times. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
- ^ a b Aceti, Lanfranco (2011-08-06). "Hacking the Codes of Self-representation LEA Magazine Article". Leoalmanac.org. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ a b "Lynn Hershman Leeson – Lorna". Lynnhershman.com. 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
- ^ "Brooklyn Museum: Lynn Hershman Leeson". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
- ^ "Room of One's Own". Lynn Hershman Leeson. 2021-03-20. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
- ^ a b c d e "Lynn Hershman : Room of One's Own". www.fondation-langlois.org. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
- ^ "Exhibitions + Events | Calendar | Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Agent Ruby Files". SFMOMA. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
- ^ "Film". Lynn Hershman Leeson. 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
- ^ University, © Stanford; Stanford; California 94305 (2016-08-25). "Artist, Curator & Critic Interviews". !Women Art Revolution - Spotlight at Stanford. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Immediate Kinship: Laura Albert on Lynn Hershman Leeson". Birds Eye View. 2014-07-29. Archived from the original on January 22, 2017.
- ^ a b "Interview: Lynn Hershman Leeson". KubaParis. 2016-08-03. Archived from the original on 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
- ^ Thill, Vanessa (2017-05-22). "The Trauma of Political Engagement: Lynn Hershman Leeson's Tania Libre". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ "Civic Radar". 2014.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar, February 10–May 21, 2017". www.ybca.org. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
- ^ a b c d "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Twisted". www.newmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: No Body Special", de Young Museum, Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson. Me as Robert.", Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ "Seducing Time", Kunsthalle Bremen, Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Agent Ruby Files". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- ^ "Pop Departures", Seattle Art Museum, Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ "Vertigo of Reality", Akademie der Kunste Berlin, Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson, Aanat & Zoo, Berlin" (PDF). ArtNews Review. November 2014.
- ^ "Spiel mit dem Feuer von Dr. Inge Pett". Art in Berlin (in German). 2014-09-02.
- ^ Ansaldo, Carmen (2014-07-29). "Lynn Hershman Leeson – How to Disappear, Ausstellung Aanant & Zoo". KubaParis. Archived from the original on 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
- ^ Parker, Guy (2014). "Tracing the Invisible on the Cutting Edge". ArtSlant Berlin. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015.
- ^ Hinrichsen, Jens (2014-07-31). "Lynn Hershman Leeson in Berlin Gegen den Datenstro". Monopol (in German). Archived from the original on 2014-08-03. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
- ^ Hinrichsen, Jens (2014-08-09). "Kreuzung mit Computer". Der Tagesspiegel (in German).
- ^ Berner, Irmgard (2014-08-12). "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Über das Verschwinden". Berliner Zeitung (in German).
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar", ZKM Karlsruhe, Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Origins of the Species (Part 2)", Modern Art Oxford, Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g [1] Lynn Hershman Leeson, Retrieved 17 October 2022
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: VertiGhost". Legion of Honor museum. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: A Manual for Automatons, Bionic Beings and Cyborgs, 1962-1982" Anglim Gilbert Gallery, Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ [2] New Museum, Retrieved 5 March 2021
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson: Anti-Aging". Bridget Donahue. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ "Dissident Futures". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- ^ Fateman, Johanna (2014). "New York: "Post-Speculation"". Artforum. Artforum International Magazine.
- ^ "Women: Seeing and Being Seen". Wall Street International. 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- ^ "Manual Override". The Shed. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Fellow Profile". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- .
- ^ Sterling, Bruce. "An art prize called [ddaa]". Wired. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ^ "Visual Arts Faculty featured in Artforum's Top Ten List". Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ^ Kroker, Arthur and Marilouise (January 2013). "Top Ten". Artforum. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ^ "Screen Daily". 2014-10-10.
- ^ "Power to the Pixel". 2014-10-10. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18.
- ^ Jensen, Rita (January 2014). "Women's eNews Announces 21 Leaders for 21st Century 2014". womensenews.org. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
- ^ "Lynn Hershman Leeson Papers Finding Aid". Stanford Libraries. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ^ "!W.A.R.: Voices of a Movement". Stanford Libraries. Stanford University. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ^ "WCA Lifetime Achievement Award". Nationalwca.org. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
- ^ Hamlin, Jesse (December 3, 2005). "Artist probes appearances in video, drawings, sculpture ... and, yes, robots". SFGate. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
- ^ Benyon, Brielle. "Bringing Creativity to Science: Dawn L. Hershman Is a Giant of Cancer Care". OncLive. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
Sources
- Anon (2018). "Artist, Curator & Critic Interviews". !Women Art Revolution - Spotlight at Stanford. Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
External links
- Official website
- Lynn Hershman Leeson at IMDb
- Agent Ruby at SFMoMA
- Leeson at Kadist Art Foundation
- Lynn Hershman-Leeson papers housed at Stanford University Libraries
- Guide to the papers of Lynn Hershman-Leeson published at Online Archive of California
- Women Art Revolution: Voices of a Movement, exhibit on Lynn Hershman-Leeson's interviews with feminist artists of the 1970s