Artist spotlight- Lynn Hershman Leeson
Lynn Hershman Leeson is an American artist and filmmaker, born Cleveland, Ohio, US, 1941. Her work combines art with social commentary, particularly on the relationship between people and technology. Leeson's work in media-based technology helped legitimize digital art forms.
Hershman-Leeson focuses on New media art and Films and her films have been showcased at Sundance, Toronto Film Festival and have won numerous awards. In class though, we focused on her work ‘Roberta Breitmore” where she took on the invented identity of an imagined Roberta Breitmore. she would lead dual lives and had completely different identities, personalities and dynamics for Roberta than her actual personality and it was just fascinating how she documents the work and expands the work, ultimately introducing three more Roberta’s. The fact that Roberta’s identity could be proven through real physical evidence: her drivers licence and her SSN , as well as letters written to her psychiatrist, are what enables the work to go beyond the real of just make-believe and playing dress-up. Roberta was as real as any other real fleshed out person and that was frightening to many of us who depend on the Man-made systems of “security” and “listing” as a means to feel safe in the knowledge that each human is accounted for and ‘numbered”, in a sense.
Hershman-Leeson’s work is heavily influenced by Mental disorders. The split personality in Roberta Breitmore, was not very far away from LORNA, the intensely agoraphobic women who only lived within the confines of her one room apartment. An interactive art disk, the piece allowed viewers to rotate through Lorna’s life, and could help alleviate her fears, using remote controlled units.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, further helping the Viewer be immersed into the world and fears of Lorna.
Leeson’s intense gaze on identity and consumerism and privacy helps understand the world better. For Leeson then, the world is never simply a collection of facts, but rather a complex carbon layering of thoughts, identifies, and realities, wether virtual and/or real.
In 1973, Hershman Leeson began a private performance as the fictional character, Roberta Breitmore. Breitmore’s first act was to arrive by bus in San Francisco and check into the Dante Hotel. In the following years, she undertook real-life activities such as opening a bank account, obtaining credit cards, renting an apartment, seeing a psychiatrist, and becoming involved in trendy occupations, such as EST and Weight Watchers. Breitmore placed ads in local newspapers seeking a roommate. This action resulted in 43 responses. She pursued interactions with 27 of those individuals. Roberta had her own clothing, signature makeup, walk, gestures, speech mannerisms, and handwriting. Her activities were documented in 144 drawings and surveillance photographs, as well as other artifacts, including checks, credit cards, and a driver’s license. During the fourth year of the performance, Breitmore multiplied into four other people appearing in her guise. The performance ended in 1978 at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, Italy in an exorcism ritual held in the crypt of Lucrezia Borgia, during which Breitmore was transformed through the elements of fire, water, air, and earth. Hershman Leeson commissioned Spain Rodriguez, a Zap Comix artist, to document the escapades of Roberta Breitmore in a graphic novel.
Hershman-Leeson focuses on New media art and Films and her films have been showcased at Sundance, Toronto Film Festival and have won numerous awards. In class though, we focused on her work ‘Roberta Breitmore” where she took on the invented identity of an imagined Roberta Breitmore. she would lead dual lives and had completely different identities, personalities and dynamics for Roberta than her actual personality and it was just fascinating how she documents the work and expands the work, ultimately introducing three more Roberta’s. The fact that Roberta’s identity could be proven through real physical evidence: her drivers licence and her SSN , as well as letters written to her psychiatrist, are what enables the work to go beyond the real of just make-believe and playing dress-up. Roberta was as real as any other real fleshed out person and that was frightening to many of us who depend on the Man-made systems of “security” and “listing” as a means to feel safe in the knowledge that each human is accounted for and ‘numbered”, in a sense.
Hershman-Leeson’s work is heavily influenced by Mental disorders. The split personality in Roberta Breitmore, was not very far away from LORNA, the intensely agoraphobic women who only lived within the confines of her one room apartment. An interactive art disk, the piece allowed viewers to rotate through Lorna’s life, and could help alleviate her fears, using remote controlled units.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, further helping the Viewer be immersed into the world and fears of Lorna.
Leeson’s intense gaze on identity and consumerism and privacy helps understand the world better. For Leeson then, the world is never simply a collection of facts, but rather a complex carbon layering of thoughts, identifies, and realities, wether virtual and/or real.
Roberta Breitmore
In 1973, Hershman Leeson began a private performance as the fictional character, Roberta Breitmore. Breitmore’s first act was to arrive by bus in San Francisco and check into the Dante Hotel. In the following years, she undertook real-life activities such as opening a bank account, obtaining credit cards, renting an apartment, seeing a psychiatrist, and becoming involved in trendy occupations, such as EST and Weight Watchers. Breitmore placed ads in local newspapers seeking a roommate. This action resulted in 43 responses. She pursued interactions with 27 of those individuals. Roberta had her own clothing, signature makeup, walk, gestures, speech mannerisms, and handwriting. Her activities were documented in 144 drawings and surveillance photographs, as well as other artifacts, including checks, credit cards, and a driver’s license. During the fourth year of the performance, Breitmore multiplied into four other people appearing in her guise. The performance ended in 1978 at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, Italy in an exorcism ritual held in the crypt of Lucrezia Borgia, during which Breitmore was transformed through the elements of fire, water, air, and earth. Hershman Leeson commissioned Spain Rodriguez, a Zap Comix artist, to document the escapades of Roberta Breitmore in a graphic novel.
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