Lynn Hershman Leeson’s VertiGhost is inspired by and reinterprets Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo (1958), key scenes for which were shot at the Legion of Honor. A multi-part installation about identity and authenticity, VertiGhost explores the tension between the difficulty or lack of desire to distinguish between reality and fiction versus the pursuit of truth. The film at the core of VertiGhost features the re-creation of select scenes from Vertigo, documentation of a painting by Amedeo Modigliani in the Museums’ collection that was enshrouded by questions of authenticity, as well as interviews about the construction of realities in life and art. The project also consists of an installation at both museum buildings and a live web component that incorporates live footage of viewers from the Legion of Honor by digitally inserting and implicating them into the narrative.

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