Laurie Anderson Has a Message for Us Humans
October 7, 2021 7:47 PM Subscribe
Laurie Anderson Has a Message for Us Humans: For half a century, she has taken the things we know best— our bodies, our rituals, our nation — and shown us how strange they really are. Sam Anderson writes a NYT longread profile of the venerated multi-faceted performance artist. Archive link.
"Anderson, despite all her success, still works in this spirit. The anti-careerism of her career is part of what has made her illegible, and often invisible, to mainstream audiences. Although she is a legend in some circles, she is totally unknown in others. She remains uncategorizable in a way that strikes me as both naïve and deliberate, pure and perverse, simple and profound. She moves in the tradition of John Cage, Fluxus, Schoenberg, Warhol. I mentioned to Julian Schnabel that I was having trouble summarizing Anderson’s career. “Well, it’s not really a career,” he said. “She’s really unemployable.”"
"Anderson, despite all her success, still works in this spirit. The anti-careerism of her career is part of what has made her illegible, and often invisible, to mainstream audiences. Although she is a legend in some circles, she is totally unknown in others. She remains uncategorizable in a way that strikes me as both naïve and deliberate, pure and perverse, simple and profound. She moves in the tradition of John Cage, Fluxus, Schoenberg, Warhol. I mentioned to Julian Schnabel that I was having trouble summarizing Anderson’s career. “Well, it’s not really a career,” he said. “She’s really unemployable.”"
Just learned she has an exhibit up at the Hirshhorn. Might have to find an excuse to get down to DC.
On preview: semi jinx.
posted by wordless reply at 8:03 PM on October 7, 2021
On preview: semi jinx.
posted by wordless reply at 8:03 PM on October 7, 2021
Hearing about Anderson doing a career retrospective immediately made me think of this short piece from her album with Kronos Quartet, Landfall, about Hurricane Sandy: Everything Is Floating
posted by hippybear at 8:16 PM on October 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 8:16 PM on October 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
Read this earlier today. Loved it. Love her. That is all.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:32 PM on October 7, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:32 PM on October 7, 2021 [3 favorites]
Let X=X...
Don't always get her vibe, but, a National Treasure
posted by Windopaene at 8:52 PM on October 7, 2021 [2 favorites]
Don't always get her vibe, but, a National Treasure
posted by Windopaene at 8:52 PM on October 7, 2021 [2 favorites]
She did a "Solstice Eve Sound Meditation" last year on Zoom for the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. It was like having your coolest friend digging into her epic record collection and playing a mind-opening selection of tracks.
posted by PhineasGage at 9:40 PM on October 7, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 9:40 PM on October 7, 2021 [4 favorites]
I first encountered Anderson when her career took a left at what's going to be the new sports center; with any luck it will keep going well past the place where they're thinking of building that drive-in bank. Long may she remain a mystery that continues to cloud the American brain.
posted by flabdablet at 11:11 PM on October 7, 2021 [14 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 11:11 PM on October 7, 2021 [14 favorites]
Ah, I just played Sharkey’s Day today to a disinterested bar and it made me so happy, despite the vacant response. Looking forward to this piece, thank you for posting.
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:36 AM on October 8, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:36 AM on October 8, 2021 [4 favorites]
Now, that's a bar I want to do some drinking in, wemayfreeze.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:02 AM on October 8, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 5:02 AM on October 8, 2021 [7 favorites]
I shared a salad bar with Laurie Anderson once. That makes her my close, personal friend.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:46 AM on October 8, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:46 AM on October 8, 2021 [5 favorites]
I was at MASS MoCA this summer, and they had a Laurie Anderson exhibit there.
Looks like it's still there.
posted by MtDewd at 7:09 AM on October 8, 2021 [4 favorites]
Looks like it's still there.
posted by MtDewd at 7:09 AM on October 8, 2021 [4 favorites]
I saw Thao Nguyen (of The Get Down and Stay Down) last week in concert and was thinking about how influential Laurie Anderson has been. I feel like it's pretty easy to hear her influence in singers like Thao and St. Vincent.
posted by octothorpe at 7:13 AM on October 8, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 7:13 AM on October 8, 2021 [1 favorite]
Might have to find an excuse to get down to DC.
And walk in to Room 1003?
posted by The Bellman at 7:35 AM on October 8, 2021 [3 favorites]
And walk in to Room 1003?
posted by The Bellman at 7:35 AM on October 8, 2021 [3 favorites]
Total. Fucking. Genius.
I've been a big fan since the early 80s -- since the first time I heard O Superman coming over the radio (must have been WHFS) and feeling enthralled, mystified, and terrified by the calm oddness of it.
First saw her live in the mid 80s at the Lisner Auditorium, where she put on a live show that was cutting-edge avant garde yet completely accessible. That seems to be to be the defining essence of her aesthetic and artistic style. A kind of duality that requires both immense vision and the pure talent to pull off.
Last saw her at SF Jazz, a month or so before the pandemic hit in full. Her performance had something of an apocalyptic flavor to it, and in retrospect it seems prophetic. Change was coming in a big way.
She still presents as young and fresh as ever. Almost timeless, or at least unshackled from its passage. Can't wait to see her again.
posted by mikeand1 at 8:36 AM on October 8, 2021 [9 favorites]
I've been a big fan since the early 80s -- since the first time I heard O Superman coming over the radio (must have been WHFS) and feeling enthralled, mystified, and terrified by the calm oddness of it.
First saw her live in the mid 80s at the Lisner Auditorium, where she put on a live show that was cutting-edge avant garde yet completely accessible. That seems to be to be the defining essence of her aesthetic and artistic style. A kind of duality that requires both immense vision and the pure talent to pull off.
Last saw her at SF Jazz, a month or so before the pandemic hit in full. Her performance had something of an apocalyptic flavor to it, and in retrospect it seems prophetic. Change was coming in a big way.
She still presents as young and fresh as ever. Almost timeless, or at least unshackled from its passage. Can't wait to see her again.
posted by mikeand1 at 8:36 AM on October 8, 2021 [9 favorites]
Thank you very much for posting this. I've been publicizing the show, and I might not have heard of it otherwise.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 8:55 AM on October 8, 2021
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 8:55 AM on October 8, 2021
I too saw her live some twenty years ago . My friend and I both loved the performance but agreed that the audience we were in didn’t quite get it.
posted by Eikonaut at 12:26 PM on October 8, 2021
posted by Eikonaut at 12:26 PM on October 8, 2021
I've met her once and been in her presence a few times as well as seen her twice in concert. I can attest that indeed, "her baseline vibe is extremely Midwestern — normal, practical, unpretentious, conspicuously kind. This is a good way to read her work."
I'm not sure that description is really 'Midwestern' but the rest seems accurate. When you talk to her she actually seems interested and then adds her own bit of wisdom, which can sometimes be humorous but never cynical. And, of course, her musical and artistic work is so well crafted, confident and right. She seems to speak a language that is easy to accept even if you don't completely understand it. She's easy to love because she keeps to edge without seeming to.
posted by Rashomon at 4:04 PM on October 8, 2021
I'm not sure that description is really 'Midwestern' but the rest seems accurate. When you talk to her she actually seems interested and then adds her own bit of wisdom, which can sometimes be humorous but never cynical. And, of course, her musical and artistic work is so well crafted, confident and right. She seems to speak a language that is easy to accept even if you don't completely understand it. She's easy to love because she keeps to edge without seeming to.
posted by Rashomon at 4:04 PM on October 8, 2021
My ultimate art hero. I've seen her live more times than I can remember... most memorably, in midtown Manhattan a week after 9/11, when the words of "O Superman" were extra chilling.
Here come the planes
They're American planes
Made in America
Smoking or nonsmoking?
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:46 PM on October 8, 2021 [2 favorites]
Here come the planes
They're American planes
Made in America
Smoking or nonsmoking?
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:46 PM on October 8, 2021 [2 favorites]
most memorably, in midtown Manhattan a week after 9/11
Oh, do you mean, this performance?
posted by hippybear at 2:02 PM on October 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
Oh, do you mean, this performance?
posted by hippybear at 2:02 PM on October 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
Laurie Anderson concert on Tiny Desk, May 2021!
posted by storybored at 8:01 PM on October 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by storybored at 8:01 PM on October 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
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