Conceiving Ada (1997)

»Conceiving Ada« is Lynn Hershman Leeson’s cinematic monument to the historical figure of Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace. The Countess, better known as Ada Lovelace, was a British mathematician and today is considered the writer of the very first computer program. She wrote the first algorithm for the Analytical Engine – a mechanical computing machine by Charles Babbage – thus laying the foundation for the concept of programming language.

In Hershman Leeson’s feature film, programmer Emmy Coer, who lives in the present day, finds a way of communicating with Ada Lovelace in the past. Coer plans to use genetic engineering to resurrect her role model Lovelace. In the film the Countess of Lovelace, played by Tilda Swinton, is portrayed as a visionary pioneer whose ideas are stifled by social norms and rigid gender roles. Hershman Leeson addresses the discrimination of women and their marginalization in the sciences. At the same time, she creates a tribute to an historically important woman and honors her in the form of a science-fiction film. Visitors of the exhibition »Civic Radar« have the possibility to follow the making of the film with the help of diverse concepts and a bluebox scenario that replicates the virtual sets invented for the film.