{{Short description|American artist}} {{original research|date=April 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Ann Hirsch <!-- include middle initial, if not specified in birth_name --> | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- just the pagename, without the File:/Image: prefix or brackets --> | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different than name --> | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1985}} <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living artists, {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} for dead. For living people supply only the year unless the exact date is already WIDELY published, as per WP:DOB. Treat such cases as if only the year is known, so use {{birth year and age|YYYY}} or a similar option. --> | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} --> | nationality = | education = Washington University in St. Louis, <br> Syracuse University | alma_mater = | known_for = Video and performance art | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | awards = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) --> | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} --> | module = }} '''Ann Hirsch''' (born 1985) is a contemporary American video and performance artist.<ref name=VerbatimAnnHirsch>{{cite news | title = Verbatim: Ann Hirsch | first = Matthew Shen | last = Goodman | journal = Art in America | date = June 25, 2014 | url = http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/interviews/verbatim-ann-hirsch/}}</ref> Her work addresses women's sexual self-expression and identity online and in popular culture.
== Early life == Hirsch received a BFA in sculpture from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis in 2007, and an MFA in Video Art from Syracuse University in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.americanmedium.net/uploads/3/0/5/8/30583131/ann_hirsch_cv.pdf|title = Ann Hirsch CV|access-date = 2015-12-28|website = American Medium}}</ref>
== Work == In 2008, Hirsch initiated the "Scandalishious" project, a series of videos posted to her YouTube account, "Caroline's fun fun channel." Using her computer to record herself, Hirsch performed as Caroline Benton, a SUNY freshman.<ref>{{cite news | title = [Portrait of the internet as a young girl] | first = Moira | last = Weigel | journal = Rhizome | date = September 30, 2013 | url = http://rhizome.org/editorial/2013/sep/30/portrait-internet-young-girl/}}</ref> Many of the clips show Caroline dancing to music ranging from MGMT to Katy Perry to Meat Loaf. In other videos, Caroline reads poetry or confides to her viewers about her personal life. The channel has reached over one million views.<ref name="VerbatimAnnHirsch" /> Of her motivation in creating "Scandalishious," Hirsch has said, <blockquote>While I was growing up and becoming a woman, I hated myself. I knew I was smart but other than that I thought I was just a disgusting girl that no one could be sexually interested in. I started performing as "Scandalishious" because I was tired of feeling that way. Or at least, I was tired of appearing as though I felt that way. So I started pretending I thought I was sexy and I quickly learned that if I pretended to be confident, people would believe it. And then I actually became more confident as a result.<ref name="rhizome">{{cite news |title = Ann Hirsch: Artist Profile|first = Karen|last = Archey|journal = Rhizome|date = March 7, 2012|url = http://rhizome.org/editorial/2012/mar/7/artist-profile/}}</ref> </blockquote>
Hirsch also went on to display and discuss segments of the "Scandalishious" project in galleries.<ref>{{cite news | title = Women on the Verge | first = Johanna | last = Fateman | journal = Artforum | date = April 2015 | url = https://artforum.com/inprint/issue=201504&id=50736}}</ref>
In 2010, Hirsch was a participant on the VH1 reality TV show ''Frank the Entertainer in a Basement Affair''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2016/01/13/hijacking-chatrooms-youtube-and-reality/1YYfNW7ZWGdFJoTKv2Xp6I/story.html|title=Hijacking chatrooms, YouTube, and reality TV - The Boston Globe|website=BostonGlobe.com|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> Hirsch went by "Annie," one of fifteen women trying to win over Frank Maresca, himself a former reality TV contestant on ''I Love New York 2'' and ''I Love Money''.<ref name="nydailynews">{{cite news | title = Frank Moresco is looking for love from his parents' basement in VH1's 'Frank the Entertainer' | first = Cristina | last = Kinon | page = Television section, page 61 | no-pp = y | newspaper = New York Daily News | date = December 24, 2009 | url = http://nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/12/24/2009-12-24_starting_at_the_bottom_singles_head_to_basement.html | access-date = April 26, 2015 | archive-date = December 27, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091227030100/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/12/24/2009-12-24_starting_at_the_bottom_singles_head_to_basement.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> Hirsch's incentive in joining the show was to create a performance piece and to investigate the derogatory stereotypes surrounding women who vie for publicity.<ref>{{cite news | title = Shaming Famewhores Part I: On Becoming a Famewhore | first = Ann | last = Hirsch | magazine = Bust | date = January 25, 2010 | url = http://bust.com/shaming-famewhores-part-i-on-becoming-a-famewhore.html | access-date = April 27, 2015 | archive-date = April 27, 2015 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20150427002508/http://bust.com/shaming-famewhores-part-i-on-becoming-a-famewhore.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> Hirsch's participation on ''Frank the Entertainer'' highlighted the nebulous line between performance and reality. She found herself cast as "the nice girl," and realized "the non-sexualization of my character, both through my own doing and through careful editing...rendered me an inadequate partner for Frank."<ref>{{cite news | title = Shaming Famewhores Part II: On Being a Failed Famewhore | first = Ann | last = Hirsch | magazine = Bust | date = February 23, 2010 | url = http://bust.com/shaming-famewhores-part-ii-on-being-a-failed-famewhore.html | access-date = April 29, 2015 | archive-date = January 20, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150120102057/http://bust.com/shaming-famewhores-part-ii-on-being-a-failed-famewhore.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> To avoid this carefully packaged characterization, Hirsch performed an expletive-filled rap song and was promptly sent home. In an interview with Hirsch, Karen Archey suggested that reality TV itself was the medium for the performance.<ref name="artforum">{{cite news | title = Ann Hirsch | journal = Artforum | date = October 1, 2013 | url = http://artforum.com/words/id=43319/}}</ref> Even so, a compilation of clips of her appearances on the show along with her application video, entitled "Here For You (Or my Brief Love Affair With Frank Maresca," can be found on Hirsch's website. Hirsch also participated on the TV series Oddities.
After Hirsch's work with Frank the Entertainer ended, in 2011 she collaborated with performance artist Genevieve Belleveau (also known as gorgeousTaps) to create ''The Reality Show with gorgeousTaps.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/blog/image-conscious/studio-visit-the-real-world-of-ann-hirsch|title=Studio Visit: The Real World of Ann Hirsch|date=2011-02-01|website=Blouin Artinfo|publisher=Louise Blouin Media|access-date=2016-03-07}}</ref> Hirsch's work with and on reality TV manipulates stereotypical tropes into which women are cast and likewise considers the power of affect (emotion) within an attention economy. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Steinberg |first1=Monica |title=(Im)Personal Matters: Intimate Strangers and Affective Market Economies |journal=Oxford Art Journal |volume=42 |pages=45–67 |doi=10.1093/oxartj/kcy026 |url=https://academic.oup.com/oaj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/oxartj/kcy026/5366959?guestAccessKey=7c970fe5-3bd8-4b11-b653-68ce0826f81c |access-date=13 March 2019 |language=en|year=2019 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
As a teen in the late 1990s, Hirsch developed a significant chatroom presence.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Ann Hirsch discusses her latest work about '90s cybersex|url = http://artforum.com/words/id=43319|website = ArtForum Magazine|access-date = 2015-12-28}}</ref> Hirsch's "Playground," a play about a coming of age for which she was awarded a Rhizome commission, teenage girl engaging in a relationship with an adult man through an internet chatroom, debuted in 2013.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = Ann Hirsch: Playground|url = http://www.newmuseum.org/calendar/view/ann-hirsch-playground|website = New Museum|access-date = 2015-12-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://therealannhirsch.com/bio/|title=Ann Hirsch|website=therealannhirsch.com|access-date=2018-05-02}}</ref> The set of "Playground" consists of two desks where the actors sit at computers, appearing to chat with each other, while the textual component of their conversation is projected onto the wall behind them.<ref name="artforum" /><ref>{{Cite web|title = Ann Hirsch: Playground|url = http://morganquaintance.com/2014/12/22/ann-hirsch-playground/|website = Morgan Quaintance writings|access-date = 2015-12-28|first = Morgan|last = Quaintance|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160109034959/http://morganquaintance.com/2014/12/22/ann-hirsch-playground/|archive-date = January 9, 2016|url-status = dead}}</ref> The play was inspired by Hirsch's own teenage experience of meeting and engaging in a multi-year online relationship with an older man. The play was debuted at the New Museum and was presented by South London Gallery at Goldsmiths College. Hirsch also collaborated with designer James LaMarre to produce "Twelve," an app that recreated the now-defunct AOL chatrooms of Hirsch's adolescence. Though the app recreated the appearance of the interactive chatroom space, an app-user would be met with a pre-conceived narrative of a young girl chatting with an older man. Hirsch explained, "My point with telling this story is just to be honest and convey both the benefits I got from this relationship (intimacy, sexual knowledge) but also show the manipulation and exploitation that was involved in a relationship like this as well." The app was eventually banned by the iTunes Store.<ref>{{cite news | title = Artist's Notebook: Ann Hirsch |first = Marina | last = Galperina | journal = Animal New York | date = April 28, 2014| url =http://animalnewyork.com/2014/artists-notebook-ann-hirsch/}}</ref>
Hirsch participated in "Body Anxiety," a 2015 online exhibition featuring work by video and performance artists based on questions of the female body through the lens of the internet.<ref>{{cite news | title = "Body Anxiety:" Sabotaging Big Daddy Mainframe, via online exhibition |first = Josephine | last = Bosma | journal = Rhizome | date = January 26, 2015| url=http://rhizome.org/editorial/2015/jan/26/body-anxiety/}}</ref>
Hirch worked as an artist in residence at Yaddo, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Atlantic Center for the Arts. Her most recent works include shows at the MIT List Visual Arts Center and the New Museum's online project space ''First Look''.
== References == <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using<ref></ref> tags, these references will then appear here automatically --> {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == *[http://therealannhirsch.com/ Ann Hirsch] official website *Interview: ''[http://brooklynquarterly.org/keeping-track-of-the-real-ann-hirsch/ Keeping Track of the Real Ann Hirsch]'' with Rachel Wetzler of Brooklyn Quarterly *Interview: ''[http://arcade-gallery.tumblr.com/post/28567488079/featured-artist-ann-hirsch-i-am-watched I am watched therefore I am] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031202015/http://arcade-gallery.tumblr.com/post/28567488079/featured-artist-ann-hirsch-i-am-watched |date=October 31, 2015 }}'' with The Arcade Gallery in 2012
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, Ann}} Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:American women video artists Category:American video artists Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:American feminist artists Category:Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts alumni Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:21st-century American women