Lynn Hershman Leeson’s groundbreaking films Conceiving Ada (2000) and Teknolust (2003), both starring Tilda Swinton, are two of the artist’s most celebrated explorations of the themes which have defined her multidisciplinary art practice: the construction of identity and the use of media and technology as tools for empowerment against censorship and repression. In the time-travel adventure film Conceiving Ada (2000) Swinton astonishes as a mathematic genius a century ahead of her time who blurs the boundaries between past and present, virtual and real. In the science-fiction drama Teknolust (2003), Swinton’s chameleonic abilities are on full display as a scientist specializing in biogenetics who creates three self-replicating automatons (also played by Swinton), who rely on sperm to survive. Traversing LGBTQ+, feminist, technological, and ethical concerns, Hershman Leeson’s films endure as enigmatic harbingers of digital culture’s effect on our collective experience of reality.
Both Conceiving Ada and Teknolust are followed by a conversation with Lynn Hershman Leeson that probe themes of gender fluidity, timelessness, transformation, and interpersonal power structures. This program is presented in conjunction with Orlando at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts (February 7 – May 2, 2020), guest curated by Tilda Swinton and organized by Aperture, New York.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lynn Hershman Leeson is an American artist and filmmaker whose work transgresses art, social commentary, technology, and media. Her work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The National Gallery of Canada Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Tate Modern, London; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; and The Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie, Germany. Her films have been exhibited at the Berlin Film Festival; Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah; and Toronto International Film Festival. Her work is held in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; The Hess Collection, Napa; the McEvoy Family Collection, San Francisco; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts; the Thoma Art Foundation, Santa Fe; the Tate Britain; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. She is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Prix ars Electronica, and Siggraph Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives and works in San Francisco and New York.
FILM DETAILS
Conceiving Ada
Runtime: 85 minutes
Country: United States
Year: 2000
Language: English
Director: Lynn Hershman Leeson
Producer: Lynn Hershman Leeson, Henry S. Rosenthal
Writer: Lynn Hershman Leeson
Editor: Robert Dalva
Cinematographer: Hiro Narita
Music: The Residents
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Francesca Faridany, Karen Black, Timothy Leary, Thomas Jay Ryan
Print Source: Hotwire Productions LLC
Teknolust
Runtime: 82 minutes
Country: United States
Year: 2003
Language: English
Director: Lynn Hershman Leeson
Producer: Paul Barnett, Oscar Gubernati, Lynn Hershman Leeson, John Bradford King, Youssef Vahabzadeh
Writer: Lynn Hershman Leeson
Editor: Lisa Fruchtman
Cinematographer: Hiro Narita
Music: Klaus Badelt, Mark Tschanz
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Davies, Karen Black, Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak
Print Source: Hotwire Productions LLC.