''Desire Inc.'' (1990) is a video documentary piece created by the artist
Lynn Hershman
Lynn Hershman Leeson (née Lynn Lester Hershman; born 1941) is a multimedia American artist and filmmaker. Her work combines art with social commentary, particularly on the relationship between people and technology. Leeson is a pioneer in new med ...
(now known as Lynn Hershman Leeson). Hershman created a series of seductive television ads in which a sexy woman asked for viewers to call her. The ads, interviews with the respondents to the ad, and commentary from Hershman are woven together to create the 26-minute video. This is one of Hershman's significant works, and it demonstrates the viewers' intense personal relationship to the public space. It is a rare piece of
video art
Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. ...
that makes television interactive, where the response from a viewer is as much the art as the ad itself.
Hershman uses the form of the TV commercial, which usually just directs desire toward consumer objects, to direct viewers toward actual interpersonal connection instead.
Memorable quotes
* "Mass communication is like mask communication"
* "This is the medium of seduction"
* "TV claimed the female body"
* Hershman calls the ads "electric, nomadic
boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...
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External links
LynnHershman.comthe artist's website
New Television Workshopsummary of the video.
1990 films
American documentary films
Video art
1990 documentary films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
English-language documentary films
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