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| birth_name = Lynn Lester Hershman |
| birth_name = Lynn Lester Hershman |
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| birth_date = {{Birth |
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1941|06|17}}<ref name="tl">{{cite web |title=Timeline |url=https://www.lynnhershman.com/timeline/#top |website=Lynn Hershman Leeson |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref> |
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| birth_place = {{nowrap|[[Cleveland]], Ohio, U.S.}} |
| birth_place = {{nowrap|[[Cleveland]], Ohio, U.S.}} |
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| known_for = {{hlist|[[New media art]]|[[film]]}} |
| known_for = {{hlist|[[New media art]]|[[film]]}} |
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| notable_works = {{hlist|''America's Finest''|''Synthia''|''CybeRoberta''|''Tillie''|''[[Agent Ruby]]''|''[[DiNA]]''|''[[Conceiving Ada]]''|''[[Teknolust]]''|''[[Strange Culture]]''|''[[!Women Art Revolution]]''}} |
| notable_works = {{hlist|''America's Finest''|''Synthia''|''CybeRoberta''|''Tillie''|''[[Agent Ruby]]''|''[[DiNA]]''|''[[Conceiving Ada]]''|''[[Teknolust]]''|''[[Strange Culture]]''|''[[!Women Art Revolution]]''}} |
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| education = [[Case Western Reserve University]],<br/> [[San Francisco State University]] |
| education = [[Case Western Reserve University]],<br/> [[San Francisco State University]] |
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| awards = {{plainlist| |
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*D.velop Digital Art Award |
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{{endplainlist}} |
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*Sloan Prize for Writing and Directing |
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*Siggraph Distinguished Artist Award |
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| ⚫ | *IFP Pixel Market Prize<ref name="PixelPrize">{{cite web |url=http://powertothepixel.com/news/uncategorized/flickering-flame-takes-arte-international-pixel-market-prize-2014 |title=The Flickering Flame takes out the ARTE International Prize for The Pixel Market 2014 |date=October 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018221628/http://powertothepixel.com/news/uncategorized/flickering-flame-takes-arte-international-pixel-market-prize-2014 |archive-date=October 18, 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=April 30, 2018 |df=mdy }}</ref> |
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}} |
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| website = {{URL|lynnhershman.com}} |
| website = {{URL|lynnhershman.com}} |
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'''Lynn Hershman Leeson''' (née '''Lynn Lester Hershman''';<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bravo |first=Tony |date=April 6, 2022 |title=At 80, S.F. artist celebrated by industry that once shunned her |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/at-80-artist-lynn-hershman-leeson-is-more-relevant-than-ever |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=Datebook {{!}} San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide |language=en-US}}</ref> born 1941) is |
'''Lynn Hershman Leeson''' (née '''Lynn Lester Hershman''';<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bravo |first=Tony |date=April 6, 2022 |title=At 80, S.F. artist celebrated by industry that once shunned her |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/at-80-artist-lynn-hershman-leeson-is-more-relevant-than-ever |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=Datebook {{!}} San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide |language=en-US}}</ref> born June 17, 1941) is an American multimedia [[artist]] and [[filmmaker]].<ref name=":3">{{cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson |url=https://art21.org/artist/lynn-hershman-leeson/ |access-date=2019-09-08 |website=art21.org}}</ref> Her work with technology and in media-based practices is credited with helping to legitimize digital art forms.<ref name="tromble">{{cite book|last1=Tromble|first1=Meredith|title="The Art and Films of Lynn Hershman Leeson: Secret Agents, Private I|date=2005|publisher=University of California|isbn=978-0-520-23970-8|pages=xi|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/artfilmsoflynnhe00kyle}}</ref> Her interests include feminism, race, surveillance, and artificial intelligence and [[identity theft]] through algorithms and data tracking. |
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Hershman Leeson has been described as a "new media pioneer" for her integrationofemerging technologies into her work.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Steinhauer |first=Jillian |date=2021-07-08 |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Artist Is Prescient |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/arts/design/hershman-leeson-review-art-museum.html |access-date=2022-11-04 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |
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==Early life and education== |
==Early life and education== |
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Lynn Hershman |
Lynn Hershman was born in 1941 in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /> Her father, who had immigrated to the [[United States]] from [[Montreal]],<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Lynn Hershman (biography) |url=https://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=168 |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=www.fondation-langlois.org}}</ref> wasapharmacist, and her mother was a biologist. She reports experiencing both [[physical abuse]] and [[child sexual abuse|sexual abuse]] during her childhood.<ref name="fifty">{{cite web |last1=Greenberger |first1=Alex |title=A New Future from the Passed: Lynn Hershman Leeson Comes into Her Own After 50 Years of Prophetic Work |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/a-new-future-from-the-passed-lynn-hershman-leeson-comes-into-her-own-after-50-years-of-prophetic-work-8028/ |website=ARTnews |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref> |
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In 1963, Hershman graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education, Museum Administration and Fine Arts from [[Case Western Reserve University]] in Cleveland,<ref name="auto" /> after which she studied painting at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name="fifty" /> While she dropped out of Berkeley, she completed a Master of Fine Arts degree from [[San Francisco State University]] in 1972.<ref name="auto" /> One aspect of Hershman's master's thesis involved writing art criticism under three pseudonyms: Prudence Juris, Herbert Goode and Gay Abandon.<ref name="auto"/> She received an honorary Ph.D degree from [[Pratt Institute]] in 2023.<ref name="pratt">{{cite web |title=Commencement 2023 to Be Held on May 17 at Radio City Music Hall |url=https://www.pratt.edu/news/commencement-2023-to-be-held-on-may-17-at-radio-city-music-hall/ |website=Pratt Institute |access-date=7 June 2024}}</ref> |
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== Career == |
== Career == |
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Leeson's work |
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 world]]s. Her work grew out of an [[installation art]] and performance tradition, with an emphasis on interactivity.<ref name="Wardrip-Fruin, Noah (2003)">Wardrip-Fruin, Noah, and Nick Montfort, eds. ''The New Media Reader''. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003, p. 643.</ref> |
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Her projects explore technology in digital media and science. Leeson was the first artist to launch an interactive piece using [[Videodisc]], a precursor to DVD (Lorna, 1983–84), as well the first artist to incorporate a [[touch screen]] interface into her artwork (Deep Contact, 1984–1989). Her networked robotic art installation (The Difference Engine #3, 1995–1998) is an example of her tendency to expand her artwork beyond the traditional realms of art.<ref name=" |
Her projects explore technology in digital media and science. Hershman Leeson was the first artist to launch an interactive piece using [[Videodisc]], a precursor to DVD (''Lorna'', 1983–84), as well the first artist to incorporate a [[touch screen]] interface into her artwork (''Deep Contact'', 1984–1989). Her networked robotic art installation (''The Difference Engine #3'', 1995–1998) is an example of her tendency to expand her artwork beyond the traditional realms of art.<ref name="tromble"/><ref name="The Importance of Being Roberta, Katerina Gregos (2011)">[http://www.galeriewaldburger.com/lhershman/onroberta.pdf The Importance of Being Roberta, Katerina Gregos (2011)]</ref> |
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Work by Leeson is featured in the public collections of the [[Museum of Modern Art]], the William Lehmbruck Museum, the [[ZKM]] (Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie), the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]], the [[National Gallery of Canada]], [[di Rosa]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Collection|url=http://www.dirosaart.org/about/the-collection/|website=dirosaart.org|date=16 June 2010 |access-date=2016-11-03}}</ref> the [[Walker Art Center]] and the University Art Museum, [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], in addition to the private collections of [[Donald M. Hess]] and [[Arturo Schwarz]], among many others. Commissions include projects for the [[Tate Modern]], [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], [[de Young Museum]], [[Daniel Langlois]] and [[Stanford University]], and [[Charles Schwab Corporation|Charles Schwab]] |
Work by Hershman Leeson is featured in the public collections of the [[Museum of Modern Art]], the William Lehmbruck Museum, the [[ZKM]] (Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie), the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]], the [[National Gallery of Canada]], [[di Rosa]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Collection|url=http://www.dirosaart.org/about/the-collection/|website=dirosaart.org|date=16 June 2010 |access-date=2016-11-03}}</ref> the [[Walker Art Center]] and the University Art Museum, [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], in addition to the private collections of [[Donald M. Hess]] and [[Arturo Schwarz]], among many others. Commissions include projects for the [[Tate Modern]], [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], [[de Young Museum]], [[Daniel Langlois]] and [[Stanford University]], and [[Charles Schwab Corporation|Charles Schwab]].<ref name=":4" /> |
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From 1993 to 2004, Hershman Leeson taught at the [[University of California, Davis]], where she is currently a [[Emeritus|professor emerita]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson |url=https://arts.ucdavis.edu/faculty-profile/lynn-hershman-leeson-0 |website=UC Davis |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref> She was named chair of the [[San Francisco Art Institute]] film department in 2007.<ref name="sfai">{{cite web |title=SFAI Proudly Welcomes Lynn Hershman Leeson as New Head of Its Film Department |url=https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/111509/sfai-proudly-welcomes-lynn-hershman-leeson-as-new-head-of-its-film-department/ |website=e-flux |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref> |
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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]].<ref name="Cornell">{{cite journal |title=lynn hershman leeson archive |journal=Cornell Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art |publisher=Cornell University Library |hdl=1813.001/7761936f}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Film Screening and Q&A |url=http://events.newschool.edu/event/lynn_hershman_film_screening_and_qa#.UosAOY2E6IA |access-date=19 November 2013 |website=The New School}}</ref> |
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=== Early works === |
=== Early works === |
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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. |
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.<ref name="fifty" /> |
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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.<ref name="guard">{{Cite web|date=2015-05-31|title=Lynn Hershman Leeson: Origins of the Species (Part 2) review – always alert to the future|url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/may/31/lynn-hershman-leeson-review-modern-art-oxford-origins-of-the-species-part-2|access-date=2021-03-26|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> |
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=== Alter egos === |
=== Alter egos === |
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From 1974 until 1978, Leeson 'developed' a fictional [[persona]] and [[alter ego]] |
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fictive.arts.uci.edu/roberta_breitmore|title=Breitmore, Roberta (Lynn Hershman Leeson)|website=fictive.arts.uci.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110030405/http://fictive.arts.uci.edu/roberta_breitmore|archive-date=2013-11-10|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/arts/design/pardon-me-but-the-art-is-mouthing-off.html|title=Pardon Me But the Art is Mouthing Off|last=Finkel|first=Jori|work=New York Times|date=2005-11-27|access-date=2022-04-13|language=en}}</ref> |
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This was later taken to further lengths when 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 (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 [[Palazzo dei Diamanti]] in Ferrara, Italy in 1978, during an exorcism at the grave of [[Lucrezia Borgia]]. What remains are the physical artefacts of any life: documentation and [[personal effects]] such as legal and medical documents and a diary.<ref name="The Importance of Being Roberta, Katerina Gregos (2011)"/> |
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 [[Palazzo dei Diamanti]] in Ferrara, Italy in 1978, during an exorcism at the grave of [[Lucrezia Borgia]]. What remains are the physical artefacts of any life: documentation and [[personal effects]] such as legal and medical documents and a diary.<ref name="The Importance of Being Roberta, Katerina Gregos (2011)"/> |
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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 [[Second Life]]. After Stanford University acquired her archive, Leeson worked with [[Henry Lowood]] (Stanford Humanities Lab) to convert parts of the archive into something for a broader public. They worked to recreate and re-enact both Roberta Breitmore and The Dante Hotel in a virtual space.<ref name="Hacking the Codes of Self Representation, LEA Magazine">{{cite journal|last=Aceti |first=Lanfranco |url=http://www.leoalmanac.org/hacking-the-codes-of-self-representation-lea-magazine-article/ |title=Hacking the Codes of Self-representation LEA Magazine Article |publisher=Leoalmanac.org |date=2011-08-06 |access-date=2014-04-04}}</ref> |
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 [[Second Life]]. After Stanford University acquired her archive, Leeson worked with [[Henry Lowood]] (Stanford Humanities Lab) to convert parts of the archive into something for a broader public. They worked to recreate and re-enact both Roberta Breitmore and The Dante Hotel in a virtual space.<ref name="Hacking the Codes of Self Representation, LEA Magazine">{{cite journal|last=Aceti |first=Lanfranco |url=http://www.leoalmanac.org/hacking-the-codes-of-self-representation-lea-magazine-article/ |title=Hacking the Codes of Self-representation LEA Magazine Article |publisher=Leoalmanac.org |date=2011-08-06 |access-date=2014-04-04}}</ref> |
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=== '' |
=== ''Lorna'' (1983) === |
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Described as the was first [[art game|interactive laser artdisk]] art project,<ref name=":2" /> Hershman Leeson's 1983 work ''Lorna'' tells the story of an [[Agoraphobia|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.<ref name="lorna">{{cite web|url=http://www.lynnhershman.com/lorna/ |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson – Lorna |publisher=Lynnhershman.com |date=2011-02-23 |access-date=2014-04-04}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | From 1990 to 1993, Lynn Hershman Leeson produced a project called ''Room of One's Own''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Brooklyn Museum: Lynn Hershman Leeson|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/about/feminist_art_base/lynn-hershman-leeson|access-date=2021-04-16|website=www.brooklynmuseum.org}}</ref> The project is said to be inspired by Thomas Edison's [[Kinetoscope|kinetograph]], a device where a film is displayed on loop and an individual is allowed to view it through a peephole.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-20|title=Room of One's Own|url=https://www.lynnhershman.com/project/room-of-ones-own/|access-date=2021-04-16|website=Lynn Hershman Leeson|language=en-US}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Lynn Hershman : Room of One's Own|url=https://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=169|access-date=2021-04-16|website=www.fondation-langlois.org}}</ref> 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!”.<ref name=":0" /> There are about 17 segments and depending on where the viewer is focusing, a different video plays in the back wall.<ref name=":0" /> Throughout the experience, the viewer is positioned to be a [[Voyeurism|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.<ref name=":0" /> At the end, the viewer's reflection is shown in a small television in the back of the room.<ref name=":0" /> |
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| ⚫ | 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.<ref name="lorna"/> |
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=== ''LORNA'' (1983) === |
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LORNA was an early project of Leeson's from 1983,<ref name=":2" /> and was the first [[art game|interactive laser artdisk]] art project. LORNA tells the story of an [[Agoraphobia|Agoraphobic]] woman, viewers have the option of directing her life into several possible plots and endings.<ref name="lynnhershman.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.lynnhershman.com/lorna/ |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson – Lorna |publisher=Lynnhershman.com |date=2011-02-23 |access-date=2014-04-04}}</ref> LORNA never left her one-room apartment. As LORNA 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. |
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=== ''Room of One's Own'' (1990–1993) === |
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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.<ref name=" |
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| ⚫ | From 1990 to 1993, Lynn Hershman Leeson produced a project called ''Room of One's Own''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Brooklyn Museum: Lynn Hershman Leeson|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/about/feminist_art_base/lynn-hershman-leeson|access-date=2021-04-16|website=www.brooklynmuseum.org}}</ref> The project is said to be inspired by Thomas Edison's [[Kinetoscope|kinetograph]], a device where a film is displayed on loop and an individual is allowed to view it through a peephole.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-20|title=Room of One's Own|url=https://www.lynnhershman.com/project/room-of-ones-own/|access-date=2021-04-16|website=Lynn Hershman Leeson|language=en-US}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Lynn Hershman : Room of One's Own|url=https://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=169|access-date=2021-04-16|website=www.fondation-langlois.org}}</ref> 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!”.<ref name=":0" /> There are about 17 segments and depending on where the viewer is focusing, a different video plays in the back wall.<ref name=":0" /> Throughout the experience, the viewer is positioned to be a [[Voyeurism|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.<ref name=":0" /> At the end, the viewer's reflection is shown in a small television in the back of the room.<ref name=":0" /> |
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=== ''Agent Ruby'' === |
=== ''Agent Ruby'' === |
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Hershman Leeson created the "Agent Ruby" websiteasa companion to her 2002 film ''[[Teknolust]]''.<ref name=":2" /> 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'',<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref name="Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Agent Ruby Files">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/exhibitions/512 |title=Exhibitions + Events | Calendar | Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Agent Ruby Files |publisher=SFMOMA |access-date=2014-04-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407071419/http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/exhibitions/512 |archive-date=2014-04-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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== Films and documentaries == |
== Films and documentaries == |
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{{Main|Lynn Hershman Leeson filmography}} |
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Lynn Hershman Leeson has directed 26 films, including six feature-length films.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-06-16 |title=Film |url=https://www.lynnhershman.com/film/ |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=Lynn Hershman Leeson |language=en-US}}</ref> According to Leeson:<ref name="Hacking the Codes of Self Representation, LEA Magazine" /> |
Lynn Hershman Leeson has directed 26 films, including six feature-length films.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-06-16 |title=Film |url=https://www.lynnhershman.com/film/ |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=Lynn Hershman Leeson |language=en-US}}</ref> According to Leeson:<ref name="Hacking the Codes of Self Representation, LEA Magazine" /> |
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<blockquote>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.</blockquote> |
<blockquote>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.</blockquote> |
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A 1990 documentary, ''[[Desire Inc.]]'' features a series of seductive television ads in which a sexy woman asked for viewers to call her. |
A 1990 documentary, ''[[Desire Inc.]]'' features a series of seductive television ads in which a sexy woman asked for viewers to call her.<ref name="tromble" /> |
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Leeson's six feature films - ''[[Strange Culture]]'', ''[[Teknolust]]'', ''[[Conceiving Ada]]'', ''[[!Women Art Revolution]]'', ''[https://kadist.org/work/tania-libre/ Tania Libre], and [https://www.lynnhershman.com/project/electronic-diaries/ The Electronic Diaries]''[https://www.lynnhershman.com/project/electronic-diaries/ -] have been part of the [[Sundance Film Festival]], the Toronto International Film Festival and The [[Berlin International Film Festival]], among others, and have won numerous awards. Hershman's ground-breaking 2011 release, ''[[!Women Art Revolution]]'', was a feature-length documentary about the [[feminist art movement in the United States]], distributed by [[Zeitgeist Films|Zeitgest Films]]. Artists interviewed for the film include [[Judy Chicago]], [[Guerilla Girls]], [[Miranda July]], Mike Kelly, [[Joyce Kozloff]], [[Howardena Pindell]], [[Yvonne Rainer]], [[Faith Ringgold]], [[Martha Rosler]], [[Carolee Schneemann]], [[Cecilia Vicuña]], and many others, including the artist herself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=University |first=© Stanford |last2=Stanford |last3=California 94305 |date=2016-08-25 |title=Artist, Curator & Critic Interviews |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/women-art-revolution/feature/artist-curator-critic-interviews |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=!Women Art Revolution - Spotlight at Stanford |language=en}}</ref> The film is currently held by Stanford University in their archives, and can be accessed through the university's [https://exhibits.stanford.edu/women-art-revolution website documenting the project]. |
Hershman Leeson's six feature films - ''[[Strange Culture]]'', ''[[Teknolust]]'', ''[[Conceiving Ada]]'', ''[[!Women Art Revolution]]'', ''[https://kadist.org/work/tania-libre/ Tania Libre], and [https://www.lynnhershman.com/project/electronic-diaries/ The Electronic Diaries]''[https://www.lynnhershman.com/project/electronic-diaries/ -] have been part of the [[Sundance Film Festival]], the Toronto International Film Festival and The [[Berlin International Film Festival]], among others, and have won numerous awards. Hershman's ground-breaking 2011 release, ''[[!Women Art Revolution]]'', was a feature-length documentary about the [[feminist art movement in the United States]], distributed by [[Zeitgeist Films|Zeitgest Films]]. Artists interviewed for the film include [[Judy Chicago]], [[Guerilla Girls]], [[Miranda July]], Mike Kelly, [[Joyce Kozloff]], [[Howardena Pindell]], [[Yvonne Rainer]], [[Faith Ringgold]], [[Martha Rosler]], [[Carolee Schneemann]], [[Cecilia Vicuña]], and many others, including the artist herself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=University |first=© Stanford |last2=Stanford |last3=California 94305 |date=2016-08-25 |title=Artist, Curator & Critic Interviews |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/women-art-revolution/feature/artist-curator-critic-interviews |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=!Women Art Revolution - Spotlight at Stanford |language=en}}</ref> The film is currently held by Stanford University in their archives, and can be accessed through the university's [https://exhibits.stanford.edu/women-art-revolution website documenting the project]. |
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As part of her 2014 exhibition "How To Disappear," she premiered her video ''The Ballad of JT LeRoy'',<ref name="Birds Eye View"/> |
As part of her 2014 exhibition "How To Disappear," she premiered her video ''The Ballad of JT LeRoy'',<ref name="Birds Eye View"/> which examined [[Laura Albert]]'s use of the [[literary persona]] [[JT LeRoy]]. Reflecting on the parallels between JT LeRoy and Roberta Breitmore, Hershman Leeson has commented:<ref name="KubaParis Interview"/><blockquote>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.</blockquote>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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Thill|first=Vanessa|date=2017-05-22|title=The Trauma of Political Engagement: Lynn Hershman Leeson's Tania Libre|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/the-trauma-of-political-engagement-lynn-hershman-leesons-tania-libre-59734/|access-date=2021-03-26|website=ARTnews.com|language=en-US}}</ref> |
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== Retrospectives == |
== Retrospectives == |
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A 2007 retrospective at the [[Whitworth Art Gallery]] in Manchester, ''Autonomous Agents'', featured a comprehensive range of the artist's work—from the ''Roberta Breitmore'' series (1974–78) to videos from the 1980s and interactive installations that use the Internet and artificial intelligence software. Her influential early ventures into performance and photography are also featured in the current touring exhibition ''WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution'', organized by the [[Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art]]. ''The Art and Films of Lynn Hershman Leeson: Secret Agents, Private I'', was published by The [[University of California Press]] in 2005 on the occasion of another retrospective at the [[Henry Gallery]] in Seattle. |
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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."<ref name="The ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art">{{cite web|url=https://zkm.de/en/event/2014/12/lynn-hershman-leeson-civic-radar|title=Civic Radar|year=2014}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar, February 10–May 21, 2017 |url=https://www.ybca.org/whats-on/civic-radar |access-date=2018-03-23 |website=www.ybca.org}}</ref> |
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."<ref name="The ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art">{{cite web|url=https://zkm.de/en/event/2014/12/lynn-hershman-leeson-civic-radar|title=Civic Radar|year=2014}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar, February 10–May 21, 2017 |url=https://www.ybca.org/whats-on/civic-radar |access-date=2018-03-23 |website=www.ybca.org}}</ref> |
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*2019, ''Lorna'', Thoma Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico<ref name="auto2"/> |
*2019, ''Lorna'', Thoma Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico<ref name="auto2"/> |
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*2021, ''Lynn Hershman Leeson: Twisted'', [[New Museum]], New York City, New York<ref>[https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/lynn-hershman-leeson-twisted] New Museum, Retrieved 5 March 2021</ref> |
*2021, ''Lynn Hershman Leeson: Twisted'', [[New Museum]], New York City, New York<ref>[https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/lynn-hershman-leeson-twisted] New Museum, Retrieved 5 March 2021</ref> |
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*2024, ''Anti-Aging'', [[Bridget Donahue]], New York City, New York<ref name="donahue">{{cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson: Anti-Aging |url=https://www.bridgetdonahue.nyc/exhibitions/lynn-hershman-leeson-anti-aging/ |website=Bridget Donahue |access-date=7 June 2024}}</ref> |
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=== Group exhibitions === |
=== Group exhibitions === |
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* 2014, ''Post Speculation'', P! gallery, New York City, New York<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fateman |first=Johanna |date=2014 |title=New York: "Post-Speculation" |work=Artforum |publisher=Artforum International Magazine |url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/post-speculation-48751}}</ref> |
* 2014, ''Post Speculation'', P! gallery, New York City, New York<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fateman |first=Johanna |date=2014 |title=New York: "Post-Speculation" |work=Artforum |publisher=Artforum International Magazine |url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/post-speculation-48751}}</ref> |
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* 2014, ''Women: Seeing and Being Seen'', Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-09-04 |title=Women: Seeing and Being Seen |url=https://wsimag.com/art/10954-women-seeing-and-being-seen |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=Wall Street International |language=en}}</ref> |
* 2014, ''Women: Seeing and Being Seen'', Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-09-04 |title=Women: Seeing and Being Seen |url=https://wsimag.com/art/10954-women-seeing-and-being-seen |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=Wall Street International |language=en}}</ref> |
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* 2019–2020, ''Manual Override'', [[The Shed (arts center)|The Shed]], New York City, New York<ref>{{cite web |title=Manual Override |url=https://www.theshed.org/program/63-manual-override?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkKuW7Jzq5QIVUIFaBR3l2wMpEAAYASAAEgIxg_D_BwE&sourceNumber=1334 |website=The Shed |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref> |
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==Grants and awards== |
==Grants and awards== |
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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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jensen |first1=Rita |title=Women's eNews Announces 21 Leaders for 21st Century 2014|url=http://womensenews.org/story/21-leaders-the-21st-century/140101/womens-enews-announces-21-leaders-21st-century-2014 |website=womensenews.org |date=January 2014 |access-date=2014-02-05}}</ref> |
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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jensen |first1=Rita |title=Women's eNews Announces 21 Leaders for 21st Century 2014|url=http://womensenews.org/story/21-leaders-the-21st-century/140101/womens-enews-announces-21-leaders-21st-century-2014 |website=womensenews.org |date=January 2014 |access-date=2014-02-05}}</ref> |
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Hershman Leeson served as Chair of the Film Department at the [[San Francisco Art Institute]],<ref>{{cite web |date=2013 |title=SFAI Faculty Profile, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Visiting Faculty and Department Chair Film |url=http://www.sfai.edu/faculty/lynn-hershman-leeson |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910005256/http://www.sfai.edu/faculty/lynn-hershman-leeson |archive-date=10 September 2013 |access-date=19 November 2013 |website=San Francisco Art Institute}}</ref> as [[Professor Emeritus]] at the [[University of California, Davis]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Profile at UC Davis Cinema and Technocultural Studies|url=http://arts.ucdavis.edu/faculty-profile/lynn-hershman-leeson|access-date=19 November 2013}}</ref> and as an A. D. White Professor at Large at [[Cornell University]].<ref name="Cornell">{{cite journal |title=lynn hershman leeson archive |journal=Cornell Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art |publisher=Cornell University Library |hdl=1813.001/7761936f}}</ref> She is the 2013–2014 Dorothy H. Hirshon "Director in Residence" at [[The New School]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Film Screening and Q&A |url=http://events.newschool.edu/event/lynn_hershman_film_screening_and_qa#.UosAOY2E6IA |access-date=19 November 2013 |website=The New School}}</ref> |
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In 2004, [[Stanford University]] Libraries acquired Hershman Leeson's working archive.<ref name="Stanford Archive">{{cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson Papers Finding Aid |url=http://findingaids.stanford.edu/xtf/view?docId=ead/mss/m1452.xml;query=;brand=default |access-date=19 November 2013 |website=Stanford Libraries}}</ref> Stanford also acquired a collection of the interviews compiled for Hershman Leeson's 2010 documentary [[!Women Art Revolution]].<ref>{{cite web |title=!W.A.R.: Voices of a Movement |url=http://lib.stanford.edu/women-art-revolution |access-date=19 November 2013 |website=Stanford Libraries |publisher=Stanford University}}</ref> |
In 2004, [[Stanford University]] Libraries acquired Hershman Leeson's working archive.<ref name="Stanford Archive">{{cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson Papers Finding Aid |url=http://findingaids.stanford.edu/xtf/view?docId=ead/mss/m1452.xml;query=;brand=default |access-date=19 November 2013 |website=Stanford Libraries}}</ref> Stanford also acquired a collection of the interviews compiled for Hershman Leeson's 2010 documentary [[!Women Art Revolution]].<ref>{{cite web |title=!W.A.R.: Voices of a Movement |url=http://lib.stanford.edu/women-art-revolution |access-date=19 November 2013 |website=Stanford Libraries |publisher=Stanford University}}</ref> |
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In 2018, The [[Women's Caucus for Art]] awarded Leeson with the [[Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award|Lifetime Achievement Award]], in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WCA Lifetime Achievement Award |url=http://www.nationalwca.org/awards/currentLTA.php |access-date=2018-03-24 |website=Nationalwca.org}}</ref> |
In 2018, The [[Women's Caucus for Art]] awarded Hershman Leeson with the [[Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award|Lifetime Achievement Award]], in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WCA Lifetime Achievement Award |url=http://www.nationalwca.org/awards/currentLTA.php |access-date=2018-03-24 |website=Nationalwca.org}}</ref> |
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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.”<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson |url=https://www.lynnhershman.com/ |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Lynn Hershman Leeson |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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.”<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Lynn Hershman Leeson |url=https://www.lynnhershman.com/ |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Lynn Hershman Leeson |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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==Personal life== |
==Personal life== |
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Hershman Leeson is based in [[San Francisco]], [[California]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kholeif |first=Omar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmcWEAAAQBAJ |title=Art in the Age of Anxiety |date=2021-01-26 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-1-907071-80-5 |pages=332 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="tromble" /> |
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| ⚫ |
Hershman Leeson |
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| ⚫ | Hershman Leeson's daughter, [[Dawn L. Hershman]], is an oncologist who researches [[breast cancer]] at [[Columbia University]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hamlin |first1=Jesse |title=Artist probes appearances in video, drawings, sculpture ... and, yes, robots |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Artist-probes-appearances-in-video-drawings-2591506.php |publisher=SFGate |access-date=January 2, 2021 |date=December 3, 2005}}</ref> Hershman Leeson has two grandchildren, Noa and Eli.<ref name="dawn">{{cite web |last1=Benyon |first1=Brielle |title=Bringing Creativity to Science: Dawn L. Hershman Is a Giant of Cancer Care |url=https://www.onclive.com/view/bringing-creativity-to-science-dawn-l-hershman-is-a-giant-of-cancer-care |website=OncLive |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Lynn Hershman Leeson
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 | |
| Born | Lynn Lester Hershman (1941-06-17) June 17, 1941 (age 83)[1]
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
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| Education | Case Western Reserve University, San Francisco State University |
| Occupation(s) | Artist, filmmaker, new media art |
| Known for |
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| Notable work |
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| Awards |
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| Website | lynnhershman |
Lynn Hershman Leeson (née Lynn Lester Hershman;[3] born June 17, 1941) is an American multimedia artist and filmmaker.[4] Her work with technology and in media-based practices is credited with helping to legitimize digital art forms.[5] Her interests include feminism, race, surveillance, and artificial intelligence and identity theft through algorithms and data tracking.
Hershman Leeson has been described as a "new media pioneer" for her integration of emerging technologies into her work.[6]
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]
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 Videodisc, a precursor to DVD (Lorna, 1983–84), as well the first artist to incorporate a touch screen interface into her artwork (Deep Contact, 1984–1989). Her networked robotic art installation (The Difference Engine #3, 1995–1998) is an example of her tendency to expand her artwork beyond the traditional realms of art.[5][12]
Work by Hershman Leeson is featured in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the William Lehmbruck Museum, the ZKM (Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, di Rosa,[13] the Walker Art Center and the University Art Museum, Berkeley, in addition to the private collections of Donald M. Hess and Arturo Schwarz, among many others. Commissions include projects for the Tate Modern, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, de Young Museum, Daniel Langlois and Stanford University, and Charles Schwab.[14]
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]
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]
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 Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, Italy in 1978, during an exorcism at the grave of Lucrezia Borgia. What remains are the physical artefacts of any life: documentation and personal effects such as legal and medical documents and a diary.[12]
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 Second Life. After Stanford University acquired her archive, Leeson worked with Henry Lowood (Stanford Humanities Lab) to convert parts of the archive into something for a broader public. They worked to recreate and re-enact both Roberta Breitmore and The Dante Hotel in a virtual space.[22]
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]
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]
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]
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 - Strange Culture, Teknolust, Conceiving Ada, !Women Art Revolution, Tania Libre, and The Electronic Diaries- have been part of the Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and The Berlin International Film Festival, among others, and have won numerous awards. Hershman's ground-breaking 2011 release, !Women Art Revolution, was a feature-length documentary about the feminist art movement in the United States, distributed by Zeitgest Films. Artists interviewed for the film include Judy Chicago, Guerilla Girls, Miranda July, Mike Kelly, Joyce Kozloff, Howardena Pindell, Yvonne Rainer, Faith Ringgold, Martha Rosler, Carolee Schneemann, Cecilia Vicuña, and many others, including the artist herself.[29] The film is currently held by Stanford University in their archives, and can be accessed through the university's website documenting the project.
As part of her 2014 exhibition "How To Disappear," she premiered her video The Ballad of JT LeRoy,[30] which examined Laura Albert's use of the literary persona JT LeRoy. Reflecting on the parallels between JT LeRoy and Roberta Breitmore, Hershman Leeson has commented:[31]
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]
A 2007 retrospective at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, Autonomous Agents, featured a comprehensive range of the artist's work—from the Roberta Breitmore series (1974–78) to videos from the 1980s and interactive installations that use the Internet and artificial intelligence software. Her influential early ventures into performance and photography are also featured in the current touring exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, organized by the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. The Art and Films of Lynn Hershman Leeson: Secret Agents, Private I, was published by The University of California Press in 2005 on the occasion of another retrospective at the Henry Gallery in Seattle.
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]
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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 Creative Capital, The National Endowment for the Arts, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Siemens International Media Arts Award, Prix Ars Electronica, and Alfred P Sloan Foundation Prize for Writing and Directing. In 2009 she was the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.[60] Also in 2009, she received the SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award.[61] The Digital Art Museum in Berlin recognized her work with the d.velop digital award (ddaa) for Lifetime Achievement in the field of New Media in 2010.[62] Her work was recently included in Arthur and Marilouise Kroker's Top Ten for the January 2013 issue of Artforum.[63][64]
In 2014, IFP Pixel Market Prize went to The Infinity Engine starring Tilda Swinton, directed by Leeson in collaboration with producer Lisa Cortes, whose credits include the Academy Award and Sundance Film Festival winning film Precious. The Infinity Engine is an installation, film and online interactive website. The prize comprises a six-month fellowship at the Media Center and an invitation to participate in next year's No Borders programme.[65][66]
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]
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 canceratColumbia University.[71] Hershman Leeson has two grandchildren, Noa and Eli.[72]
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