Laurie Anderson - The multimedia superartist

Laurie Anderson writes to us: “Hi OndaRock, I have to say I never do interviews by email: to me they lack dynamism. They feel like ChatGPT… But in this case I'll make an exception because time is tight. So please forgive the mechanical answers.” With this ironic, characteristically hers, preamble, the American artist introduces us to her latest projects, including “Let X=X”, her new tour, which sees her alongside the formidable jazz band Sexmob led by Steven Bernstein (horns), with Briggan Krauss (sax, guitar), Tony Scherr (bass), Kenny Wollesen (percussion) and Doug Wieselman (guitar and horns). A performance straddling pop, literature and avant-garde theatre, which she will now bring to Italy for two unmissable dates: November 16, 2023 at the Teatro Comunale in Carpi (Modena) and November 17 at the Auditorium Santa Chiara in Trento. We talk about this and more in this email conversation, in which the answers, however “mechanical”, tell us a great deal about the extraordinary personality, the unmistakable humor and the undiminished verve of the American musician.

Hello Laurie, you'll be in Italy in November for a show titled “Let X=X”, taking its cue from the track of the same name on “Big Science”. What kind of show will it be?

We'll play quite a lot of songs, it will be a performance built around improvisation and fun, also because I'm lucky enough to play with truly great musicians. It'll be a great show.

Speaking of “Big Science” (1982): it's your album that we included among our milestones. Can you tell us how it was conceived? Do you feel you were in some way prophetic with those apocalyptic visions that so closely resemble today's society?

I made that record as part of a portrait of the United States. I did it because I spent a lot of time in Europe, which at the time was a better place to make experimental music and theatre. Back then the United States was rather conservative. But a lot of people asked me: “How can you live in a place like that?” The answer turned out to be eight hours long, in the multimedia piece titled “United States 1-4”, of which “Big Science” was a part.

In 2024 you'll premiere your new work “Ark” at the Manchester International Festival. Can you tell us about this project? Will there also be a new album?

I'm right in the middle of making “Ark”, so I really can't predict what it will be like. With every workshop it takes on a new shape, with new music, new images. I'll probably make an album tied to it, maybe even a film.

The New York Times called you “the heart of America, affectionately alienated from itself”. Do you recognize yourself in that description?

Personal alienation has always been my goal as a meditator, and I think I'm also affectionate, or at least I aspire to be.

Recently the Moderna Museet in Stockholm dedicated a solo exhibition to you – “Looking Into A Mirror Sideways” (2023) – an extraordinary show featuring both past and unreleased works. The first artwork visitors encountered in the space was your performance “Drum Dance”, taken from the film “Home Of The Brave” (1984). In what way do you think that piece can represent and sum up your multidisciplinary artistic output?

I think of myself as a musical instrument, but I also see myself as a camera and a projector, and that's probably why I really enjoy working with virtual reality. The involvement of the body in technology is a real thing, and it has always drawn me in.

What drove you to create original, customized instruments hybridized with new media, such as the Viophonograph, the Tape Bow Violin, the Digital Violin? What was your process in experimenting with these new musical devices?

Each of these projects was inspired by ways in which the body and technology overlap, in terms of gesture and performance. It's like the way car design adapts to our eyes, hands and feet.

What's your first impulse when conceiving and creating a work of art? Is it narrative, an image, a concept, a feeling, or a mix of different things? Has this changed over time, and if so, how?

Every time I start something new, the starting point is different. It could be a color. It could be a phrase. It could be a certain kind of puzzle, something I want to solve. Fortunately for me, I'm a multimedia artist and I can use many different starting points, drawing on different senses.

Your artistic work includes, connects and intertwines painting, photography, video and film. How does the visual dimension contribute to your process of musical composition?

Recently I was looking at medieval polyphonic scores. I love the choral music of that era. I decided to use the scores in unexpected ways, and that was exhilarating for me.

You anticipated the relationship between artist and multimedia. How do you approach artificial intelligence (A.I.)? And what about virtual reality? As in "To The Moon"...

Artificial intelligence is a wonderful tool for artists, a bit less so for academics. It's very useful for banal marketing purposes and rather dangerous when it comes to social media and opinion-based media.

You also turned to A.I. to create a text engine capable of writing by combining your style with that of Lou Reed. Ten years have passed since his death. What's the most important thing his life experience left you with?

His enthusiasm for life and music continues to inspire me every day.

We read that your wildest dream would be to create that multimedia theme park you were supposed to build in Barcelona in the Nineties together with Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno. But there's still time - would you like to try again?

Actually, I'm rather glad I never managed to do it, because there's nothing more depressing than an outdated techno park, and obviously these things become obsolete within about two weeks.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google