iSeoul Museum of ArtSeosomun-dong, Jung-gu
Lynn Hershman Leeson: First Person Plural
Asia's first museum survey of American media-art pioneer Lynn Hershman Leeson, tracing six decades of work on identity, surveillance and the human-technology interface.
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Early on, you meet the artist's face: wax casts sealed in cases, breathing heavily and speaking in her recorded voice. These Breathing Machines open the first of six sections, about 200 works over the 2nd and 3rd floors.
Lynn Hershman Leeson is an American media artist and filmmaker, and this is her first solo museum show in Asia. Lorna (1979 to 1984), which her own site calls the first artwork to use laserdisk technology, lets you intervene in the life of an agoraphobic woman. Agent Ruby (1998 to 2002) is a chat program with a winking face that often says it needs a better algorithm, which is more honesty than the Coupang chatbot manages while looping you back to the menu.
The Korea Herald's critic found much of it reads like a relic of an earlier digital age, but called the vision behind it "uncannily relevant". Entry is free, a docent tour starts at 15:00 Tuesday to Sunday, Fridays run to 21:00 and winter weekends close at 18:00.
Editor's pick
Agent Ruby, a winking chatbot face from 1998, often admits it needs a better algorithm. Asia's first museum survey of Lynn Hershman Leeson runs from X-Ray Man (1970) to a 2025 self-portrait, with the laserdisk work Lorna in between.
Look for
Lorna
A 1979 to 1984 laserdisk work about an agoraphobic woman named Lorna, in which the viewer takes part in her story, now with Korean subtitles.
Agent Ruby
A chat program shown as the suggestion of a female face that winks and moves its eyes and lips, and often says it needs a better algorithm.
The Breathing Machines
Look for wax casts of the artist's face sealed in cases, breathing heavily and talking in her recorded voice.
CyberRoberta (1996/2026)
A doll with cameras in its eyes that films the visitors looking at her.
Logic Paralyzes the Heart (2022)
An on-screen cyborg played by Joan Chen traces the history of AI and warfare, in a script the artist co-wrote with AI.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Evening Visits
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You came for new tech: the Korea Herald says much of it reads like an early-digital relic.
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Image credits
8
- Lynn Hershman Leeson: First Person PluralCourtesy of Seoul Museum of Art
- Taehwagwan: A Space Weaving Together TimeCourtesy of Seoul Museum of History
- Ilgu Iryuk, Muhan Iryuk: 100 Years of Hangul DayCourtesy of National Museum of Korean Contemporary History
- Seoul Museum of Artgypsycrystal, CC BY 2.0
- MMCA DeoksugungKimhs5400 (블루시티), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Seoul Museum of HistoryJjw / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- National Museum of Korean Contemporary HistoryTrace84 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- National Palace Museum of KoreaJinho Jung, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0