Recently, the indispensable Art and Electronic Media launched from Phaidon Press, with a reception and talk at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.  As Art and Electronic Media’s Wordpress site quotes,

This highly anticipated book demonstrates the formidable history of artistic uses of electronic media, a history that parallels the growing pervasiveness of technology in all facets of life. Over 200 artists and institutions from more than 30 countries are represented. The centrality of artists as theorists and critics is reflected in the focus on artists’ writings. The goal is to enable the rich genealogy of art and electronic media to be understood and seen – literally and figuratively – as central to the histories of art and visual culture.

The author, Edward A. Shanken, has organized the artists and works in the book into seven categories, and Lynn’s CybeRoberta (1995-8) is featured in the section entitled “Bodies, Surrogates, Emergent Systems”! And she’s in good company, sharing this category with works by Laurie Anderson, Chris Burden, and STELARC, to name just a few.

The CybeRoberta doll

The piece is one of a pair of Dollie Clones,

CybeRoberta’s appearance, wardrobe, and accessories were designed in mimicry of Roberta Breitmore. She and her counterpart, Tillie (1995-8), are equipped with “eye cons”: cameras that capture both the world they physically inhabit and the digital network into which they are connected, allowing viewers to see through their eyes while they see themselves seeing, refracted through refresh rates and cyber-portals. Oh, and also, the dolls often observe and pirate each other’s data. In The Art and Films of Lynn Hershman Leeson: Secret Agents, Private I, Lynn calls the Dollie Clones “the first robotic net works with a humanoid presence.”

So, if you’re in New York City on June 18th,  be sure to make your HUMAN presence known at the East Coast launch of Art and Electronic Media at Bitforms Gallery, beginning at 6:30 p.m!

PS: The following evening, June 19, also starting at 6:30 p.m., Bitforms will be screening a selection of Lynn’s film and video works, including a trailer for Women Art Revolution! Go for your eyes and your minds: they’re hungry.