FILM - Research, Lynn Hershman Leeson.

Lynn Hershman Leeson pioneered Interactive computer and net-based media art. Her piece "Lorna" was the first interactive video art disc, made in 1983-4. Its theme sets the tone for the bulk of her work, dealing with vulnerability, voyeurism and surveillance. This piece is maybe a bit lighter than some of the work that follows, at least there is an element of humour. The audience, when choosing what happens to Lorna, can pick that she commits suicide, shoots the TV, or moves to Los Angeles (which some of the audience thought was worse than suicide).
Lynn Hershman Leeson recent work uses interactive installation to explore further the theme of surveillance. As computer technology becomes central to our lives, we are watched, recorded, documented and databased, and this collecting of information has potential for serious reprocussions. In her recent film "Strange Culture", she looks at the sinister implications of surveillance on society, based on the story of a woman's quest to reveal the dangers of genetically modified food.
(www.strangeculture.net)
The fears and anxieties she addresses in her work are becoming more and more real in the world we live in today.