General News

!WAR At Sundance

By Melissa Howland | December 29, 2010

“When the definitive book on media arts is written, San Francisco artist Lynn Hershman Leeson deserves a long chapter.”— San Francisco Chronicle

Lynn Hershman Leeson’s new film !Women Art Revolution will screen at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the screening Sundance will feature an installation titled RAWWAR. RAWWAR is a live participatory environment that allows users to “bring light” to lost or invisible histories of women in art with virtual flashlight controllers accessing an interactive community-curated archive.

!Women Art Revolution was recently acquired by Zeitgeist Films for North American distribution after premiering at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival to critical acclaim. Zeitgeist Co-President Nancy Gerstman notes, “There is so much about the history of the Feminist Art Movement that has been unacknowledged up to now and Lynn Hershman Leeson has done a great service in enriching our understanding of the pioneering heroines from the `70s until today. We feel privileged to be part of this ongoing history of the most significant art movement of the late 20th century.”

Here is what the press is saying about !Women Art Revolution:

“Overflowing with bold art” – New York Post

“Hershman Leeson’s film is a valuable resource on a movement whose issues remain relevant.” – Variety

“A powerful narrative that holds society accountable for its past prejudices, celebrates how far women have come, and is hopeful about where they have to go.” – Maclean’s

“Upsetting, informative and cool” – Film Threat

Hershman Leeson’s film is over 40 years in the making and draws from hundreds of hours of in the-moment interviews with her contemporaries—visionary artists, historians, curators and critics—to present an intimate portrayal of their fight to break down barriers facing women both in the art world and society at large. !Women Art Revolution features an original score composed by Carrie Brownstein, formerly of Sleater-Kinney. In conjunction with the film, legendary artist Spain has illustrated a 100-page graphic novel depicting selected highlights of the !WAR history; the graphic novel includes a 57-page curriculum guide to accompany the film.

In the 1960s, the Feminist Art Movement emerged to politicize female artists and challenge complexities of gender, race, class and sexuality. Through interviews with her colleagues, Hershman Leeson—a pioneering, award-winning multimedia artist—traces the history of the movement from its relationship to the anti-war and civil rights forces of the 1960s, through its groundbreaking contributions to women’s art of the 1970s, to the emergence of The Guerilla Girls, who became the conscience of the art world and held galleries and museums accountable for discrimination. Ultimately, Hershman Leeson and her collaborators would become part of what many historians now claim is the most significant art movement of the late 20th century.

Hershman Leeson says of the film, “In 1966, I borrowed a camera, figured out how to use it and shot people coming through my living room in Berkeley. Then I forgot about all that footage and it was stored in boxes in my studio until I found it in 2004. I felt it had become even more relevant and it was a personal imperative that I complete the project! I felt a tremendous responsibility to find the story inside that raw footage and to honor the women who struggled to invent themselves and who introduced the concepts of social protest, collaboration and public art that addressed directly the political imperatives of social justice and civil rights. This film took 42 years and it needed all that time to find the optimistic and uncompromising legacy.”

!Women Art Revolution is written, directed, produced and edited by Lynn Hershman Leeson. The film is executive produced by Sarah Peter, produced by Kyle Stephan and co-produced by Alexandra Chowaniec and Carla Sacks. !Women Art Revolution is a Hotwire Production in association with Chicken and Egg Pictures, Creative Capital and Impact Partners. Lynn Hershman Leeson has been cited as the “most influential woman working in new media” and has pioneered site specific, performance and interactive projects. She is the recipient of the 2010 d.velop digital art award [ddaa], the most prestigious award to be given to artists working in digital art. Additionally, she is the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Golden Nica Prix Ars Electronica, the ZKM/Seimens Media Arts Award and became a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow in 2009. Hershman Leeson received a Creative Capital Grant for !Women Art Revolution and wrote, directed and produced the feature films Teknolust, Conceiving Ada and Strange Culture. These films screened at the Sundance, Toronto and Berlin International Film Festivals and were all internationally distributed.