Lynn Hershman Leeson is widely recognized for her innovative work investigating issues that are now recognized as key to the workings of contemporary society: identity, surveillance, the relationship between humans and technology, and the use of media as a tool of empowerment against censorship and political repression.
Hans Ulrich Obrist is artistic director of the Serpentine, London. He was previously the curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show, World Soup (The Kitchen Show), in 1991, he has curated more than 350 exhibitions. Photo: Tyler Mitchell
Hans Ulrich ObristDoes money corrupt art?
Lynn Hershman LeesonNo, lack of money does.
HUOWhat is your most recent work?
LHLThey are all always unfinished, but the latest is about immortality. I’m working on the final part of The Cyborgian Rhapsody, a project I began in 1996 about the evolution of AI and how it affects identity and culture. Part 4 was written and performed by a GPT-3 chatbot that thinks it looks and sounds like me thirty years ago. I hope to have this complete by May. I’m also working on a much larger project about immortality, investigating the existence of immortality in certain plants, bacteria, and even jellyfish. I’m not certain what final form this will take yet—most likely a multimedia installation like The Infinity Engine (2014) or Twisted Gravity (2019–21).
HUOWhat is your unrealized project?
LHLMy life.
HUOWhat role does chance play?
LHLFailure and chance are indispensable to complete a work.
HUOWhat was your first museum visit as a child?
LHLThe Cleveland Museum of Art, which I went to at least weekly.
HUOWhat keeps you coming back to the studio?
LHLNoise.
HUOHow did you come to art/How did art come to you?
LHLI was born.
HUOHas the computer changed the way you work?
LHLHahahah. I live in the Bay Area mostly, where you breathe technologies and use the computer as your brain.
HUOWhat is time?
LHLAn invention to quantify reality.
HUOWhat was your biggest mistake?
LHLFretting about past mistakes.
HUODo politics and art mingle?
LHLYes: one can’t exist without the other. Art is about change and perception in the context of current states of life, which politics defines.
HUOWhat is your advice to a young artist?
LHLDon’t throw anything away, and keep your sense of humor.