12:47 minutes
Using the seminal 1958 film Vertigo as a launchpad, Lynn Hershman Leeson explores the blurred lines between fact and fantasy in VertiGhost , a film commissioned by the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco. VertiGhost features the re-creation of select scenes from Vertigo (which takes place in San Francisco), documentation of the life of a painting by Amedeo Modigliani in the Legion of Honor’s collection that was enshrouded by questions of authenticity, as well as interviews—including with the original film’s star Kim Novak— about the construction of realities in life and art. By thoughtfully overlaying these conversations and events, Hershman Leeson distills complex conversations around identity and authenticity into concise insights in just over 12 minutes. Hershman Leeson’s project explores the elusive nature of a singular identity, which haunts the characters in Hitchcock’s 1958 film—its most enigmatic representation being the painting of a supposed distant relative of the film’s protagonist Madeleine, around which her character and fate are imagined. In a powerful scene, psychologist and performer Nkechi Emeruwa sits at the Legion of Honor in the present day and recites her relationship with Alfred Hitchcock’s films. Growing up watching them with her mother in Nigeria, Emeruwa admits to watching his films with curiosity about the American mind. Having been raised in a place where she was considered the dominant culture, Emeruwa, a Black woman, says that in the United States that perspective is destabilized as she finds herself experiencing the world through the lens of its dominant culture—a white man. The film is full of complex moments like this one, challenging our common beliefs and provoking our notions.
Lynn Hershman Leeson is a celebrated Bay Area artist and filmmaker internationally renowned for her pioneering use of new technologies to explore key social issues. Her prolific body of work spans over four decades: from her early conceptual and performance works where she constructed an ‘official’ civilian record for her alter ego Roberta Breitmore, to her more recent works that intersect with the field of science to explore themes of identity, privacy, surveillance and the complex relationship between humans and technology, and the real and the virtual world. Hershman Leeson also addresses these key themes through her filmmaking, which is highly idiosyncratic and socially engaged. A notable example is her acclaimed documentary !Women Art Revolution , which focuses on the Feminist movement in the USA.
This untitled painting by Tirdad Hasemi presents a space that can be thought of as both a prison cell and a house...
Study of History IV by Subas Tamang is an etching and aquatint print based on photographs taken by German photographer Volkmar Wentzel in 1949...
Looking away for clarity: “First Fleet” by Nine Years Theatre | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Photo: Bernie Ng August 9, 2019 By Nabilah Said (1,100 words, 6-minute read) “The best seats are on the sides.” A friend’s advice guided my decision when I went to review First Fleet by Nine Years Theatre...
Re Somma and Tamil Theatre in Singapore | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints Agam Theatre Lab December 24, 2021 By Vithya Subramaniam, in conversation with Karthikeyan Somasundaram (2,330 words, 8-minute read) Why stage a piece about, and play your own father? What is Tamil Theatre in Singapore? And did Karthik really need to put on a full face of paint just for that one 12-minute scene? Vithya Subramaniam and Karthikeyan Somasundaram chat about Re Somma —a ‘bioplay’ on Singaporean Tamil media veteran, Re...
Kimbell Art Museum acquires important cultural touchstone of Olmec art Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Museums & Heritage news Kimbell Art Museum acquires important cultural touchstone of Olmec art The jade statuette of an Olmec ruler holding a baby were-jaguar will be exhibited as the centrepiece of the Texas museum's ancient American collection Theo Belci 14 December 2023 Share Standing Figure Holding a Were-Jaguar Baby (around 900BC-300BC) Photo: Justin Kerr., courtesy of the Justin Kerr Maya archive, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, has acquired Standing Figure Holding a Were-Jaguar Baby (around 900BC-300BC), a jade statuette at the centre of Olmec civilisation studies since the mid-20th century...
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (12–18 Nov 2018) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Weekly To Do November 12, 2018 Bisikan Monsoon — Open Rehearsal , at Selangor & KL Kwang Tung Association, 13 Nov, 5:30pm An invitation to view the rehearsals for Kwang Tung Dance Company’s Bisikan Monsoon (the show is travelling to China later in the month)...
Things Entangling Edited by Che Kyongfa and Elodie Royer Designed by Toshimasa Kimura Published by Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) and KADIST The publication is available in pdf — see links on the right side of this page Things Entangling was published on the occasion of the eponymous collective exhibition presented at MOT, Tokyo from June 9 to September 27, 2020, the culmination of a long-term curatorial collaboration between MOT and KADIST...
Pratchaya Phinthong’s work has explored the mineral and karmic economies of Laos, a country that shares language, beliefs, and a long border with his own native region of Isaan (Northeast Thailand)...
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“Between Tiny Cities (រវាងទីក្រុងតូច)”: De-cyphering Conversation | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Vincent August 14, 2018 By Nah Dominic (1080 words, five-minute read) A white circle 10 metres in diameter greets us on entering the flexible performance space in Loft 29...
The cruel paradox of cosmetic tweakments now being deemed ‘ageing’ | Dazed â¬…ï¸ Left Arrow *ï¸âƒ£ Asterisk â Star Option Sliders âœ‰ï¸ Mail Exit Beauty Beauty Feature You may be scared of ‘ageing like milk’, but turning to filler and Botox at a young age could now leave you dubbed with ‘stink face’ online 12 February 2024 Text Laura Pitcher Lately, just existing on social media will leave you feeling like there’s no correct way to age...
The artist films a horse dressage session at night, in a dimly lit manège...
Taiwan WMD (Taiwan and Weapons of Mass Destruction) is part of a long-term research started in early 2010 on the history and aftermath effects of Japanese biological and chemical warfare in China during WWII, as well as the unknown history of Taiwan’s nuclear program...