LYNN HERSHMAN LEESON Ruth C. Horton Gallery October 20–December 10, 2016
Lynn Hershman Leeson is internationally acclaimed for her pioneering use of new technologies in the fields of photography, video, film, performance, installation, interactive art, and internet-based art. For over 40 years her work has established her as a prescient artist whose groundbreaking, multifaceted art has been far ahead of the times. Hershman Leeson was one of the first artists to use Videodisc, a precursor to DVD, in an interactive installation (Lorna, 1983-84) and the first to incorporate a touch screen interface into an artwork (Deep Contact, 1984-1989). Her networked robotic art installation, The Difference Engine #3 (1995-1998), and Infinity Engine (2013-), a genetics lab installation that explores identity in light of developments in regenerative medicine, bio-printing, and DNA programming, are just a few examples of how she has integrated the latest technologies and referenced current scientific developments in her art. For her foresight, sustained exploration, and experimentation at the intersection of science, technology, and the human experience, Hershman Leeson has been described as “a prophet of our cybernetic condition.” As an artist and filmmaker, Hershman Leeson has consistently examined the relationship between humanity and technology, focusing on the construction of identity, interactivity, artificial intelligence, voyeurism, surveillance, and the relationship of the real to the virtual. A number of her works have revolved around invented personae, alter egos, or avatars as a means to probe identity and its increasingly fluid and mercurial manifestations. At the core of her work in this conversation have been feminist issues, which more recently have expanded across gender lines to focus on what it means to be human in an increasingly cyber world and era of genetic and bioengineering.
Roberta Construction Chart 1, 1975 From the Roberta Breitmore series Archival digital print and dye transfer 40 x 26 3/8 inches
This exhibition presents a succinct selection of Hershman Leeson’s key photomontages and digital photo works along with one of her seminal interactive Internet-based pieces, Agent Ruby (1999-2002), all of which grapple with the increasingly mutable notion of female identity and the Self in both the real and virtual worlds. Three works in the exhibition from the Roberta Breitmore series (1974-78) demonstrate Hershman Leeson’s fascination with the construction of identity, her exploration of invented personae and alter egos as a means to probe the female Self, and the complex membrane between projected and real selves. Hershman Leeson’s continued investigation of identity is also evident
in the Phantom Limb series (1985-1987) works on view. In these black and white photomontages Hershman Leeson transposes images of cameras, TV sets, sockets, wires, and cords onto the female body in a comment on the invasion of technology into contemporary life and the detrimental impact of the media on defining women, how women are perceived, and how they see themselves. Beyond exploring female identity as a social construct, Hershman Leeson’s work also probes the intersection of human and computer generated experience. In 2002 Leeson created another female persona, Agent Ruby, an invented character and “web bot” that fluctuates between reality and virtual reality. Commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Agent Ruby appeared in several versions: as a character in Hershman Leeson’s film Technolust1, in virtual reality as a web-based project, in galleries as an installation, and as a downloadable version for Palm Pilot2. In Agent Ruby, Hershman Leeson employed artificial intelligence and voice recognition technology years ahead of Apple’s Siri to create an interactive virtual persona that “conversed” with viewers, answering questions typed to her via computer. Hershman Leeson ventures further into the cybersphere, probing the intersection, immersion, and invasion of computer technology into the human experience in the Cyborg series of prints (2000-2001) and in her 1996 video, Seduction of a Cyborg, which presents a future in which women are seduced into “cyborg-hood” through manipulated computer chips.
More recently, Hershman Leeson’s work has expanded across gender lines to focus on the evolution of identity and what it means to be human in an era of genetic and bioengineering. In Cabbage (2014) and Genetically Modified Wallpaper (2014) Hershman Leeson delves into an examination of identity and the nature of human experience in an age of radical technological and scientific change. What does it mean to be human when computers become essential extensions of our minds, when synthetic body parts can replace our organs, and when we live in more than one dimension of reality? These are profound philosophical, social, and political questions that ultimately present us with the challenge of assessing the ramifications of bio and genetic experimentation and defining what is and what will be ethically acceptable. Hershman Leeson’s art confronts us with some of the most pressing issues of our times—how we will manage not just the opportunities but the terrifying possibilities that technological and scientific advances have, and will have, on humankind. Margo Ann Crutchfield Curator at Large
“One issue that concerns me is when a mutated life form is created, it is patented
and that life form and its progeny are owned. What are the implications of that? How bioengineering will affect human evolution in a planet that is increasingly uninhabitable is the most serious question of our times. We are completely shifting the structure of life, and we have no idea what that will mean two or three generations later.” —Lynn Hershman Leeson
Hershman’s three feature films, Strange Culture (2007), Teknolust (2007), and Conceiving Ada (2002), have won numerous awards, as has her groundbreaking documentary, !Woman Art Revolution, which won first prize in the Montreal Festival for Films on Art (1997) and was hailed by the Museum of Modern Art as one of the three best documentaries of 2012. 2 Palm Pilot was the first generation of hand held digital devices, launched in 1997. 1
About the artist Lynn Hershman Hershman Leeson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and studied at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and San Francisco State University. She is currently professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis; chair of the San Francisco Art Institute Film Department; an A.D. White Professor at Cornell University; and visiting artist at the New School for Social Engagement. Hershman Leeson’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe and is in the collections of major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her work is currently featured in Dreamlands; Immersive Cinema and Art 1905-2016 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Hershman Leeson lives and works in San Francisco and New York City.
Acknowledgements Many thanks to the artist, Lynn Hershman Leeson, for sharing this important work and to Bridget Donahue, our deep appreciation for her assistance throughout the evolution of this exhibition. All images courtesy of the artist and Bridget Donahue, New York.
Related Exhibition and Events Admission Free
Related Exhibition:
Film Screening:
Lynn Hershman Leeson: Body Collage Opening Reception: Tuesday, October 18, 2016, 5-7 PM School of Visual Arts Armory Gallery, 203 Draper Road, Blacksburg On view October 18-November 8, 2016
Tuesday, October 18, 2016, 7 PM !Women Art Revolution, A Film by Lynn Hershman Leeson Lyric Theatre, 135 College Avenue, Blacksburg; co-sponsored by the School of Visual Arts, the Women’s Center at Virginia Tech, and the Moss Arts Center
Artist Lecture:
This ground-breaking film documents one of the most significant art movements of the late 20th century—the recognition of women artists and the evolution of the feminist art movement.
Friday, October 21, 2016, 7:30 PM Moss Arts Center, Street and Davis Performance Hall, Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre Keynote address for the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), the second largest national organization of college and university art professors; co-sponsored by the School of Visual Arts and the Moss Arts Center
Works in the exhibition All works with the exception of Agent Ruby are collection the artist, courtesy of Bridget Donahue, New York. Genetically Modified Crops, 2014 Digital wall paper, site-specific installation 120 x 120 inches Cabbage, 2014 Digital print 31 x 30 inches Water Woman Shadow, 2003 Iris print, edition of 6 40 x 30 inches Agent Ruby Mood Swing Diagram, 2002 Digital print mounted on wood 28 x 42 inches Agent Ruby, 1999-2002 Interactive web-based installation Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Gift of bitforms gallery, Gallery Paul Anglim, and the artist Identity Cyborg, 2000 From the Cyborg series Digital print 15 1/2 x 18 1/4 inches Transfusion, 2001 From the Cyborg series Digital print 19 3/8 x 12 3/4 inches Seduction of a Cyborg, 1996 Video Duration: 7 minutes
On the cover: Roberta Construction Chart 2, 1975 From the Roberta Breitmore series Archival digital print and dye transfer 20 x 24 1/2 inches
Seduction,1995 From the Phantom Limb series Black and white photograph 28 x 39 inches Biological Clock, 1986 From the Phantom Limb series Black and white photograph 24 x 19 7/8 inches Reach, 1988 From the Phantom Limb series Black and white photograph 38 x 28 1/4 inches Roberta Construction Chart 1, 1975 From the Roberta Breitmore series Archival digital print and dye transfer 40 x 26 3/8 inches Roberta Construction Chart 2, 1975 From the Roberta Breitmore series Archival digital print and dye transfer 20 x 24 1/2 inches Masked Roberta, 1975 From the Roberta Breitmore series Photograph and acrylic paint 24 x 17 3/4 inches
Agent Ruby, 1999-2002 Interactive web-based installation Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Gift of bitforms gallery, Gallery Paul Anglin, and the artist
Cabbage, 2014; Digital print; 31 x 30 inches
General Information Admission to galleries and exhibition-related events is free. Gallery Hours Tuesday–Friday, 10 AM–5:30 PM Saturday, 10 AM–4 PM
Fall 2016 Exhibitions Four one-person but interrelated exhibitions deal inventively with the female persona, probing the strengths, vulnerabilities, and challenges of being women. Susan Jamison: Enchantment September 1-October 8, 2016
Amy Cutler September 15-December 10, 2016
Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle September 8-November 28, 2016
Lynn Hershman Leeson October 20-December 10, 2016
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