Laurie Anderson
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Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...
artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
,
pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
, and
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...
projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Charles
"Women in Electronic Music – 1977"
Liner note essay. New World Records.
Anderson pursued a variety of performance art projects in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
during the 1970s, focusing particularly on language, technology, and visual imagery. She became more widely known outside the art world when her single " O Superman" reached number two on the UK singles chart in 1981. Her debut album '' Big Science'' was released the following year. She also starred in and directed the 1986 concert film '' Home of the Brave''. Anderson is a pioneer in
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...
and has invented several devices that she has used in her recordings and performance art shows. In 1977, she created a tape-bow violin that uses recorded magnetic tape on the bow instead of horsehair and a magnetic tape head in the bridge. In the late 1990s, she collaborated with
Interval Research Interval Research Corporation was founded in 1992 by Paul Allen and David Liddle. It was a Palo Alto laboratory and technology incubator focusing on consumer product applications and services with a focus on the Internet. A 1997 version of the com ...
to develop an instrument she called a "talking stick," a long baton-like
MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
controller that can access and replicate sounds. Anderson met singer-songwriter
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...
in 1992, and she was married to him from April 2008 until his death in 2013.


Early life and education

Anderson was born in
Glen Ellyn, Illinois Glen Ellyn is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. A suburb located due west of downtown Chicago, the village has a population of 28,846 as of the 2020 Census. History Glen Ellyn, like the neighboring town to the east, Lomb ...
, on June 5, 1947, the daughter of Mary Louise (née Rowland) and Arthur T. Anderson. She had seven siblings, and on weekends she studied painting at the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
and played with the Chicago Youth Symphony. She graduated from Glenbard West High School. She attended
Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it w ...
in California, and after moving to New York in 1966, graduated in 1969 from
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
with a B.A. ''
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' and
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
, studying
art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...
. In 1972, she obtained an M.F.A. in sculpture from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. Her first performance-art piece — a symphony played on automobile horns — was performed in 1969. In 1970, she drew the
underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority ...
''Baloney Moccasins'', which was published by George DiCaprio. In the early 1970s, she worked as an art instructor, as an art critic for magazines such as ''
Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...
'', and illustrated children's books—the first of which was titled ''The Package'', a mystery story in pictures alone.


Career


1970s

Anderson performed in New York during the 1970s. One of her most-cited performances, ''Duets on Ice'', which she conducted in New York and other cities around the world, involved her playing the violin along with a recording while wearing ice skates with the blades frozen into a block of ice; the performance ended only when the ice had melted away. Two early pieces, "New York Social Life" and "Time to Go," are included in the 1977 compilation ''New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media'', along with works by
Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...
and others. Two other pieces were included on
Airwaves
', a collection of audio pieces by various artists. She also recorded a lecture for
Vision
', a set of artist's lectures released by
Crown Point Press Crown Point Press is a long-established printmaking workshop, primarily creating and publishing etched, intaglio prints. Located in San Francisco since 1986, Crown Point Press was first established in 1962 in Richmond California by Kathan Brown. ...
as a set of six LPs. Many of Anderson's earliest recordings remain unreleased or were issued only in limited quantities, such as her first single, "It's Not the Bullet that Kills You (It's the Hole)." That song, along with "New York Social Life" and about a dozen others, was originally recorded for use in an art installation that consisted of a
jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to sele ...
that played the different Anderson compositions, at the
Holly Solomon Gallery Holly Solomon Gallery opened in New York City in 1975 at 392 West Broadway in Soho, Manhattan. Started by Holly Solomon - aspiring actress, style-icon, and collector - and her husband Horace Solomon, the gallery was initially known for launching ...
in New York City. Among the musicians on these early recordings are Peter Gordon on saxophone, Scott Johnson on guitar, Ken Deifik on harmonica, and Joe Kos on drums. Photographs and descriptions of many of these early performances were included in Anderson's retrospective book ''Stories from the Nerve Bible''. During the late 1970s, Anderson made a number of additional recordings that were either released privately or included on compilations of avant-garde music, most notably releases by the
Giorno Poetry Systems Founded in 1965, Giorno Poetry Systems was an American artist collective, record label, and non-profit organisation founded by poet and performance artist John Giorno with the direct aim to connect poetry and related art forms to a larger audience u ...
label run by New York poet John Giorno, an early intimate of
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
. In 1978, she performed at the Nova Convention, a major conference involving many counter-culture figures and rising avant-garde musical stars, including William S. Burroughs,
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...
,
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...
, Timothy Leary, Malcolm Goldstein,
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading f ...
, and
Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
. She also worked with comedian Andy Kaufman in the late 1970s.


1980s

In 1980, Anderson was awarded an honorary doctorate from the
San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...
. In 1982, she was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...
for Creative Arts—Film. In 1987, Anderson was awarded an honorary doctorate in the fine arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Anderson became widely known outside the art world in 1981 with the single " O Superman," originally released in a limited quantity by B. George's One Ten Records, which ultimately reached number two on the British charts. The sudden influx of orders from the UK (prompted partly by British station
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...
playlisting the record) led to Anderson signing a seven-album deal with Warner Bros. Records, which re-released the single. "O Superman" was part of a larger stage work titled ''
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
'' and was included on the album '' Big Science''. Prior to the release of ''Big Science'', Anderson returned to
Giorno Poetry Systems Founded in 1965, Giorno Poetry Systems was an American artist collective, record label, and non-profit organisation founded by poet and performance artist John Giorno with the direct aim to connect poetry and related art forms to a larger audience u ...
to record the album ''
You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With ''You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With'' is a double album released in 1981. The album is a collaboration by Laurie Anderson, John Giorno and William S. Burroughs, recorded during their "Red Night" spoken word tour of 1981. Released through ...
''; Anderson recorded one side of the double-LP set, with William S. Burroughs and John Giorno recording a side each, and the fourth side featured a separate groove for each artist. This was followed by the back-to-back releases of her albums ''
Mister Heartbreak ''Mister Heartbreak'' is the second studio album by avant-garde artist, singer and composer Laurie Anderson, released on February 14, 1984. Like its predecessor, it contains reworked elements of Anderson's ''United States'' ("Langue d'Amour", "Ko ...
'' and ''
United States Live ''United States Live'' is the first live album and third overall album by avant-garde singer-songwriter Laurie Anderson. Released as a 5-record boxed set (later reissued on four CDs), the album was recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in N ...
'', the latter of which was a five-LP (and, later, four-CD) recording of her two-evening stage show at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
. She also appeared in a television special produced by Nam June Paik broadcast on New Year's Day 1984, titled " Good Morning, Mr. Orwell." She next starred in and directed the 1986 concert film '' Home of the Brave'' and also composed the soundtracks for the
Spalding Gray Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – January 11, 2004) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s a ...
films ''
Swimming to Cambodia ''Swimming to Cambodia'', also known as ''Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia'', is a 1987 American concert film written by and starring Spalding Gray, and directed by Jonathan Demme. The performance film is of Gray's play and monologue, which c ...
'' and ''
Monster in a Box ''Monster in a Box'' is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield. A follow-up to Gray's earlier work, '' Swimming to Cambodia ...
''. During this time, she also contributed music to Robert Wilson's '' Alcestis'' at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also hosted the PBS series '' Alive from Off Center'' during 1987, after having produced the short film ''
What You Mean We? ''What You Mean We?'' is a 1986 American made-for-television musical short film starring the performance artist Laurie Anderson, who also wrote and directed the piece. Overview Originally produced as a segment of the PBS arts series ''Alive fr ...
'' for the series the year before. ''What You Mean We?'' introduced a new character played by Anderson: "The Clone," a digitally altered masculine counterpart to Anderson who later "co-hosted" with her when she did her presenting stint on ''Alive from Off Center''. Elements of The Clone were later incorporated into the titular "puppet" of her later work, ''Puppet Motel''. In that year, she also appeared on
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
's album '' So'', in the song "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)." Release of Anderson's first post-''Home of the Brave'' album, 1989's '' Strange Angels'', was delayed for more than a year in order for Anderson to take singing lessons. This was due to the album being more musically inclined (in terms of singing) than her previous works. The single "Babydoll" was a moderate hit on the Modern Rock Charts in 1989.


1990s

In 1991, she was a member of the jury at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival. In the same year, Anderson appeared in ''
The Human Face ''The Human Face'' is a 4-part BBC series that examines the science behind facial beauty, expression, and fame. Actor and comedian John Cleese investigated identity, perception, creativity and sexuality and their relation to the human face, ...
'', a feature arts documentary directed by artist-filmmakers
Nichola Bruce Nichola Bruce (born 1953) is a British avant garde film director, cinematographer, screenwriter, and artist. Bruce uses an artistic approach to filmmaking alongside the use of digital technologies. Her use of digital film is accredited to the spee ...
and Michael Coulson for BBC television. Anderson was the presenter in this documentary on the history of the face in art and science. Her face was transformed using latex masks and digital special effects as she introduced ideas about the relationship between
physiognomy Physiognomy (from the Greek , , meaning "nature", and , meaning "judge" or "interpreter") is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the genera ...
and perception. Her varied career in the early 1990s included voice-acting in the animated film '' The Rugrats Movie''. In 1994, she created a
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both com ...
titled '' Puppet Motel'', which was followed by '' Bright Red'', co-produced by
Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop a ...
, and another spoken-word album, '' The Ugly One with the Jewels''. This was followed by an appearance on the 1997 charity single " Perfect Day." In 1996, Anderson performed with Diego Frenkel (La Portuária) and
Aterciopelados Aterciopelados ( en, The Velvet Ones), also known as Los Aterciopelados, is a rock band from Colombia, led by Andrea Echeverri and Héctor Buitrago. Their music fuses rock with a variety of Colombian and Latin American musical traditions. Ater ...
for the AIDS benefit album '' Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin'' produced by the
Red Hot Organization Red Hot Organization (RHO) is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilati ...
. An interval of more than half a decade followed before her next album release. During this time, she wrote a supplemental article on the cultural character of New York City for the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
'' and created a number of multimedia presentations, most notably one inspired by '' Moby-Dick'' (''Songs and Stories from Moby Dick'', 1999–2000). One of the central themes in Anderson's work is exploring the effects of technology on human relationships and communication. Starting in the 1990s, Anderson and
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...
, whom she had met in 1992, collaborated on a number of recordings together. Reed contributed to the tracks "In Our Sleep" from Anderson's '' Bright Red'', "One Beautiful Evening" from Anderson's '' Life on a String'', and "My Right Eye" and "Only an Expert" from Anderson's '' Homeland'', which Reed also co-produced. Anderson contributed to the tracks "Call on Me" from Reed's collaborative project '' The Raven,'' "Rouge" and "Rock Minuet" from Reed's '' Ecstasy'', and "Hang On to Your Emotions" from Reed's ''
Set the Twilight Reeling ''Set the Twilight Reeling'' is the seventeenth studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released on February 20, 1996 by Warner Bros. Records. Packaging and lyrics The cover artwork direction and packaging design was done by Stefan Sagme ...
''.


2000s

'' Life on a String'' appeared in 2001, by which time she signed a new contract with another Warner Music label, Nonesuch Records. ''Life on a String'' was a mixture of new works (including one song recalling the death of her father) and works from the ''Moby Dick'' presentation. In 2001, she recorded the audiobook version of Don DeLillo's novel ''
The Body Artist ''The Body Artist'' is a novella written in 2001 by Don DeLillo. It explores the grieving process of a young performance artist, Lauren Hartke, following the suicide of her significantly older husband. The novella is sometimes described as a ghos ...
''. Anderson went on tour performing a selection of her best-known musical pieces in 2001. One of these performances was recorded in New York City a week after the
September 11, 2001, attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, and included a performance of "O Superman." This concert was released in early 2002 as the double CD ''Live in New York''. In 2003, Anderson became
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
's first
artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...
, which inspired her performance piece ''The End of the Moon''. She mounted a succession of themed shows and composed a piece for Expo 2005 in Japan. In 2005, Anderson visited Russia's space program—the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre and mission control—with The Arts Catalyst and took part in The Arts Catalyst's Space Soon event at the Roundhouse to reflect on her experiences. She was part of the team that created the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Later that year, she collaborated with choreographer
Trisha Brown Trisha Brown (November 25, 1936 – March 18, 2017) was an American choreographer and dancer, and one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater and the postmodern dance movement. Brown’s dance/movement method, with which she and her dancers ...
and filmmaker
Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo (born 1975) is an American filmmaker and writer. Biography She studied film at Tisch School of the Arts where she graduated summa cum laude in 2003. Her debut short film '' Pâté'' premiered at the Sundance Film F ...
on the acclaimed multimedia project ''O Zlozony/O Composite'' for the Paris Opera Ballet. The ballet premiered at the Opera Garnier in Paris in December 2004. In 2005, her exhibition ''The Waters Reglitterized'' opened at the
Sean Kelly Gallery Sean Kelly Gallery, founded in 1991 in New York City by British-born Sean Kelly, represents established and mid-career artists, particularly with work based in installation and performance. Owner Sean Kelly began in the British museum world by cur ...
in New York City. According to the press release by Sean Kelly, the work is a diary of dreams and their literal recreation as works of art. This work, created in the process of re-experiencing or re-working her dreams while awake, uses the language of dreams to investigate the dream itself. The resulting pieces include drawings, prints, and high-definition video. The installation ran until October 22, 2005. In 2006, Anderson was awarded a
Residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...
at the American Academy in Rome. She narrated
Ric Burns Ric Burns (Eric Burns, born 1955) is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries since the 1990s, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series '' The Civil War'' ...
' '' Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film'', which was first televised in September 2006 as part of the PBS '' American Masters'' series. She contributed a song to '' Plague Songs'', a collection of songs related to the 10 Biblical plagues. Anderson also performed in Came So Far for Beauty, the Leonard Cohen tribute event held in the Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, on October 4–5, 2006. In November 2006, she published a book of drawings based on her dreams, titled ''Night Life''. Material from ''Homeland'' was performed at small work-in-progress shows in New York throughout May 2007, most notably at the Highline Ballroom on May 17–18, supported by a four-piece band with spontaneous lighting and video visuals mixed live throughout the performances by Willie Williams and Mark Coniglio, respectively. A European tour of the ''Homeland'' work in progress then took place, including performances on September 28–29, 2007, at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin; on October 17–19 at the Melbourne International Arts Festival; in Russia at the Moscow Dom Muzyky concert hall on April 26, 2008. The work was performed across the Atlantic in Toronto, Canada, on June 14, 2008, with husband
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...
, making the "Lost Art of Conversation" a duet with vocals and guitar, with his ambling style contrasting with Anderson's tightly wound performance. Anderson's ''Homeland Tour'' performed at several locations across the United States as well, such as at the
Ferst Center for the Arts The Ferst Center for the Arts, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is Georgia Tech's theater and arts center and is adjacent to DramaTech, the student-run theater. It contains a 950-seat auditorium that features a proscenium stage, orchestra pit, and ...
, Atlanta, Georgia; The
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...
, New York City; and Harris Theater for Music and Dance in
Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center ne ...
, Chicago, Illinois, co-presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.


2010s

In February 2010, Laurie Anderson premiered a new theatrical work, titled ''Delusion'', at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. This piece was commissioned by the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad and the Barbican Centre, London. Anderson was honored with the
Women's Project Theater WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater based in New York City. It is the nation’s oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of female-ident ...
Woman of Achievement Award in March 2010. In May/June 2010, Anderson curated the
Vivid Live Vivid may refer to: Music * Vivid (band), a Japanese rock band * "Vivid" (song), by Electronic, 1999 *"ViViD", a 2016 song by Loona from '' HeeJin'' Albums * ''Vivid'' (Vivian Green album), 2015 * ''Vivid'' (Crystal Kay album), 2012 * ''Vivi ...
festival in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
, Australia, together with Lou Reed. Her new album '' Homeland'' was released on June 22. She performed "Only an Expert" on July 15, 2010, on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production ...
'', and her song "Gravity's Angel" was featured on the Fox TV show '' So You Think You Can Dance'' the same day. She appears as a guest musician on several tracks from experimental jazz musician Colin Stetson's 2011 album '' New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges''. Anderson developed a theatrical work titled "Another Day in America." The first public showings of this work-in-progress took place in Calgary, Alberta, in January 2012 as part of Theatre Junction Grand's 2011–12 season and
One Yellow Rabbit One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre (OYR) is based in the Big Secret Theatre in Calgary’s Arts Commons. With its Resident Performing Ensemble, OYR creates original theatrical works each year for its home audiences and also hosts The High Per ...
's annual arts festival, the High Performance Rodeo. Anderson was named the Inaugural Distinguished Artist-In-Residence at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...
in
Troy, New York Troy is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Huds ...
, in May 2012. In March 2013, an exhibition of Anderson's work entitled ''Laurie Anderson: Language of the Future, selected works 1971-2013'' at the Samstag Museum was part of the Adelaide Festival of the Arts in Adelaide, South Australia. Anderson performed her ''Duets on Ice'' outside the Samstag on opening night. Anderson received the Honorary Doctor of Arts from the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2013. In June/July 2013, Anderson performed "The Language of the Future" and guest curated at the River to River Festival in New York City. In November 2013, she was the featured Guest of Honor at the B3
Biennale Biennale (), Italian for "biennial" or "every other year", is any event that happens every two years. It is most commonly used within the art world to describe large-scale international contemporary art exhibitions. As such the term was popular ...
of the Moving Image in
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, Germany. In 2018, Anderson contributed vocals to a re-recording of the
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
song "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)," originally from Bowie's 1987 album '' Never Let Me Down''. She was asked to join the production by producer Mario J. McNulty, who knew that Anderson and Bowie had been friends. On February 10, 2019, at the
61st Annual Grammy Awards The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and fo ...
, held in Los Angeles, Anderson and Kronos Quartet's ''Landfall'' won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. It was Anderson's first collaboration with Kronos Quartet and her first Grammy award, and was the second Grammy for Kronos. Inspired by her experience of Hurricane Sandy, Nonesuch Records said, "''Landfall'' juxtaposes lush electronics and traditional strings by Kronos with Anderson's powerful descriptions of loss, from water-logged pianos to disappearing animal species to Dutch karaoke bars." ''Chalkroom'' is a virtual reality work by Laurie Anderson and Taiwanese artist Hsin-Chien Huang in which the reader flies through an enormous structure made of words, drawings, and stories. ''To the Moon'', a collaboration with Hsin-Chien Huang, premiered at the
Manchester International Festival The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first tak ...
on July 12, 2019. A 15-minute
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...
artwork, ''To the Moon'' allows audience members to explore a moon that features donkey rides and rubbish from Earth in a non-narrative structure. Alongside, a film shows the development of the new work.


2020s

Laurie Anderson was appointed the 2021 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
and presented a series of six lectures titled ''Spending the War Without You: Virtual Backgrounds'' over the course of the spring and fall semesters. In 2021, Anderson created a show on the second floor of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., titled "The Weather" and described by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as "a sort of nonretrospective retrospective of one of America’s major, and majorly confounding, modern artists."


Inventions

Anderson has invented several experimental musical instruments that she has used in her recordings and performances.


Tape-bow violin

The tape-bow violin is an instrument created by Laurie Anderson in 1977. It uses recorded magnetic tape in place of the traditional horsehair in the bow, and a magnetic tape head in the bridge. Anderson has updated and modified this device over the years. She can be seen using a later generation of this device in her film ''Home of the Brave'' during the ''Late Show'' segment in which she manipulates a sentence recorded by William S. Burroughs. This version of the violin used MIDI-based audio samples, triggered by contact with the bow.


Talking stick

The talking stick is a six-foot-long baton-like
MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
controller. It was used in the ''Moby-Dick'' tour in 1999–2000. She described it in program notes as follows:


Voice filters

A recurring motif in Anderson's work is the use of an electric pitch-shifting voice filter that deepens her voice into a
masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors ...
register, a technique that Anderson has referred to as "audio drag." Anderson has long used the resulting character in her work as a "voice of
authority In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''T ...
" or
conscience Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sens ...
, although she later decided that the voice had lost much of its authority and instead began using the voice to provide historical or sociopolitical commentary, as it is used on "Another Day in America," a piece from her 2010 album '' Homeland''. For much of Anderson's career, the voice was nameless or called the Voice of Authority, although as early as 2009 it was dubbed Fenway Bergamot at Lou Reed's suggestion. The cover of ''Homeland'' depicts Anderson in character as Bergamot, with streaks of black makeup to give her a moustache and thick, masculine eyebrows. In "The Cultural Ambassador," a piece on her album '' The Ugly One with the Jewels'', Anderson explained some of her perspective on the character:


Discography


Studio albums


Spoken word albums

* '' The Ugly One with the Jewels'' (1995) * '' Heart of a Dog'' (Soundtrack) (2015)


Live albums

* ''
United States Live ''United States Live'' is the first live album and third overall album by avant-garde singer-songwriter Laurie Anderson. Released as a 5-record boxed set (later reissued on four CDs), the album was recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in N ...
'' (boxed set) (1984) US No. 192 * '' Live in New York'' (2002)


Compilation albums

* '' Talk Normal: The Laurie Anderson Anthology'' (2000)


Audio book

* ''
The Body Artist ''The Body Artist'' is a novella written in 2001 by Don DeLillo. It explores the grieving process of a young performance artist, Lauren Hartke, following the suicide of her significantly older husband. The novella is sometimes described as a ghos ...
'' by Don DeLillo (2001)


Collaborations

* '' Airwaves'' (1977 ~ One Ten Records); various artists compilation including three tracks by Anderson * ''
You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With ''You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With'' is a double album released in 1981. The album is a collaboration by Laurie Anderson, John Giorno and William S. Burroughs, recorded during their "Red Night" spoken word tour of 1981. Released through ...
'' with William S. Burroughs and John Giorno (1981 ~
Giorno Poetry Systems Founded in 1965, Giorno Poetry Systems was an American artist collective, record label, and non-profit organisation founded by poet and performance artist John Giorno with the direct aim to connect poetry and related art forms to a larger audience u ...
) * "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)" with
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
(1986, '' So'' ~ Geffen /
Charisma Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...
) * "Design For Living," with
Nona Hendryx Nona Bernis Hendryx (born October 9, 1944) is an American vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, and author. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady ...
(1983), '' Nona'', also with Gina Schock of The Go-Go's, Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson, Tina Weymouth of Tom Tom Club and
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...
, Nancy Wilson of
Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as ca ...
, and former bandmate
Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...
* "Diva" from '' Zoolook'' by Jean Michel Jarre (1984 ~
Disques Dreyfus Dreyfus Records (; french: Disques Dreyfus, link=no, ) is a record label which released the work of artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre who was part of the label for more than 20 years. Francis Dreyfus founded Disques Dreyfus in 1985. The label w ...
) * "Speak My Language" (1993; ''
Faraway, So Close! ''Faraway, So Close!'' (german: In weiter Ferne, so nah!) is a 1993 German fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The screenplay is by Wenders, Richard Reitinger and Ulrich Zieger. It is a sequel to Wenders' 1987 film ''Wings of Desire''. Actors ...
'' Soundtrack ~ SBK Records / ERG) * ''A Chance Operation: The John Cage Tribute'' with text by
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading f ...
(1993 ~ Koch International Classics) * "Enquanto Isso" with
Marisa Monte Marisa de Azevedo Monte (Brazilian Portuguese: /maˈɾizɐ dʒi azeˈvedu ˈmõtʃi/) (born 1 July 1967) is a Brazilian singer, composer, instrumentalist, and producer of Brazilian popular music and samba. As of 2011, she had sold 10 million ...
(1994, '' Verde, anil, amarelo, cor de rosa e carvão'' ~ EMI-Odeon) (1994, ''Rose and Charcoal'' ~
Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. ...
) * "Una hoja, una raiz (One Leaf, One Root)" with Diego Frenkel (La Portuária) and
Aterciopelados Aterciopelados ( en, The Velvet Ones), also known as Los Aterciopelados, is a rock band from Colombia, led by Andrea Echeverri and Héctor Buitrago. Their music fuses rock with a variety of Colombian and Latin American musical traditions. Ater ...
(1996, '' Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin'' ~ H.O.L.A Records) * "Je me souviens" by Jean Michel Jarre (2000, '' Métamorphoses'' ~
Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...
) * "Gentle Breeze" with
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...
(2004, ''Mary Had a Little Amp'' – a preschool education benefit CD ~ Epic) * "The Fifth Plague (the Death of Livestock)" (2006, '' Plague Songs'' ~ 4AD) * '' The Stone: Issue Three'' with
John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of j ...
and
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...
(2008 ~
Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. Th ...
) * "The Electrician" (2009, '' Music Inspired by the Film Scott Walker: 30 Century Man'' ~
Lakeshore Records Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...
) * '' Femina'' by
John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of j ...
(2009 ~
Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. Th ...
) * '' New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges'' by Colin Stetson (2011 ~
Constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellation ...
) * "Rely on Me" with Jean Michel Jarre (2015, '' Electronica 1: The Time Machine'' ~
Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...
) * ''Landfall'' (2018) (with Kronos Quartet) (BE #146, NL #186, PT #36) * ''Songs from the Bardo'' (2019) (with Tenzin Choegyal and Jesse Paris Smith)


Singles

* " O Superman" (1981) No. 28 AUS; No. 2 UK; BE (Vl) No. 19; IRL No. 11; NL No. 10; NZ No. 21 * "Big Science" (1981) * "Sharkey's Day" (1984) * "Language Is a Virus" (1986) No. 96 AUS; * "Strange Angels" (1989) * "Babydoll" (1989) No. 7 US Modern Rock * "Beautiful Red Dress" (1990) * "In Our Sleep" (1994) * "Big Science 2" (2007) (Currently available only on iTunes) * "Mambo and Bling" (2008) * "Only an Expert" (2010) The single "Sharkey's Day" was for many years the theme song of
Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...
. Anderson also recorded a number of limited-release singles in the late 1970s (many issued from the Holly Soloman Gallery), songs from which were included on a number of compilations, including
Giorno Poetry Systems Founded in 1965, Giorno Poetry Systems was an American artist collective, record label, and non-profit organisation founded by poet and performance artist John Giorno with the direct aim to connect poetry and related art forms to a larger audience u ...
' '' The Nova Convention'' and ''You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With''. Over the years she has performed on recordings by other musicians such as
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
,
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...
, and Jean Michel Jarre. She also contributed lyrics to the
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...
album '' Songs from Liquid Days'', and contributed a spoken-word piece to a tribute album in honor of
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading f ...
.


Music videos

Formal music videos have been produced for: * "O Superman" * "Sharkey's Day" * "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)" * "Language Is a Virus" (from ''Home of the Brave'') * "Beautiful Red Dress" In addition, in lieu of making another music video for her ''Strange Angels'' album, Anderson taped a series of one- to two-minute "Personal Service Announcements" in which she spoke about issues such as the U.S.
national debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...
and the arts scene. Some of the music used in these productions came from her soundtrack of ''Swimming to Cambodia''. The PSAs were frequently shown between music videos on VH-1 in early 1990.


Films

* ''Dearreader: How to Turn a Book Into a Movie'' – 1974 * ' – 1983 * '' Home of the Brave: A Film by Laurie Anderson'' – 1986 * ''
What You Mean We? ''What You Mean We?'' is a 1986 American made-for-television musical short film starring the performance artist Laurie Anderson, who also wrote and directed the piece. Overview Originally produced as a segment of the PBS arts series ''Alive fr ...
'' – 1987 * ''Hotel Deutschland'' – 1992 * '' The Rugrats Movie'' – 1998 (as a character voice) * ''Laurie Anderson: On Performance: ART/new york No. 54'' – 2001 * ''Life on a String'' – 2002 * ''Hidden Inside Mountains'' – 2006 * '' Heart of a Dog'' (2015) * '' Feminists: What Were They Thinking?'' (2018) * '' Sisters with Transistors'' (2020) - narrator


Digital media

* '' Puppet Motel'' (
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both com ...
, 1995) - collaboration with Hsin-Chien Huang.


Legacy

In 2013, Dale Eisinger of ''Complex'' ranked ''United States'' as the third greatest work of performance art ever, with the writer arguing that Anderson is "able to ascertain just exactly the climate of life in the United States, without being so punctuated that it causes a standoff. Perhaps the zenith of this configuration was her multimedia performance, 'United States I – IV.' .. nderson displaysher vast, incisive range of talents on the 'United States Live' recordings."


Awards and nominations

{, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" , - ! scope="col" , Award ! scope="col" , Year ! scope="col" , Nominee(s) ! scope="col" , Category ! scope="col" , Result ! scope="col" class="unsortable", , - !scope="row",
Adelaide Film Festival The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October ...
,
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
, rowspan=5, '' Heart of a Dog'' , rowspan=2, Best Documentary , , rowspan=5, , - !scope="row",
Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
, 2015 , , - !scope="row" rowspan=3, Cinema Eye Honors Awards , rowspan=3, 2016 , Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score , , - , Outstanding Achievement in Direction , , - , Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation , , - !scope="row", Deutsche Schallplatten Prize , 2001 , '' Life on a String'' , Deutsche Schallplatten Prize , , , - !scope="row", Faro Island Film Festival , rowspan=1, 2015 , rowspan=2, '' Heart of a Dog'' , rowspan=1, Best Documentary , , rowspan=2, , - !scope="row",
Film Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glas ...
, 2016 , Best Documentary Feature , , - !scope="row", Edison Awards , 1983 , '' Big Science'' , Extra International , , , - !scope="row" rowspan=5,
Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
,
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, " Gravity's Angel" , Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) , , rowspan=5, , - , 1991 , '' Strange Angels'' , Best Alternative Music Performance , , - ,
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, "
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" ,
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, , - ,
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, "Landfall" , Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance , , - ,
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, ''Songs from the Bardo'' ,
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, rowspan=3, '' Heart of a Dog'' , Best Documentary , , rowspan=4, , - , Audience Award , , - !scope="row",
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, 2015 , Prix Nouvelles Vagues Acuitis , , - !scope="row" rowspan=3,
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, 2005 , rowspan=1, ''Hidden Inside Mountains'' , Golden Leopard - Video , , - , 2015 , Herself , Lifetime Achievement Award , , , - , 2022 , Herself , Vision Award Ticinomoda , , , - !scope="row", Tenco Prize , 2001 , Herself , Tenco Prize for Songwriting , , , - !scope="row",
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, 2006 , ''Hidden Inside Mountains'' , Best Narrative Short , , rowspan=5, , - !scope="row",
Tromsø International Film Festival The Tromsø International Film Festival (TIFF) is an annual film festival held during the third week of January in Tromsø, Norway. The inaugural Tromsø International Film Festival was held in 1991. TIFF has 5 screening venues, including one ...
, 2016 , rowspan=4, '' Heart of a Dog'' , Aurora Award , , - !scope="row" rowspan=3,
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, Lina Mangiacapre Award , , - ,
Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguis ...
, , - , Green Drop Award , , - !scope="row",
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, 2017 , Herself , Award for Art , ,


Television

* '' Bei Bio'' – musical guest on german TV show, 1984 * ''
The New Show ''The New Show'' is an NBC sketch comedy show produced by Lorne Michaels that ran for one season from January 6 to March 23, 1984. Apart from being 60 minutes in length and entirely pre-recorded, the show is similar in format to Michaels' own ''S ...
'' – musical guest, 1984 * ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...
'' – musical guest, 1986 * '' Alive from Off Center'' – host, 1987 * ''
Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the original ...
'' – guest 1996 * ''
Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production ...
'' – guest 2010


Audiobooks

* '' The Path to Tranquility'' by
His Holiness the Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
– co-narrator, 1999 * ''
The Body Artist ''The Body Artist'' is a novella written in 2001 by Don DeLillo. It explores the grieving process of a young performance artist, Lauren Hartke, following the suicide of her significantly older husband. The novella is sometimes described as a ghos ...
'' by Don DeLillo – sole narrator, 2001 * ''Nothing in My Pockets'' – two-part sound diary recorded in 2003, orig. 2006 French radio broadcast, booklet with text and photography (Dis Voir, 2009) (also published in French)


Bibliography

* ''United States'' (
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...
, 1984) * ''Empty Places (A Performance)'' (Harper Perennial, 1991) * ''Stories from the Nerve Bible: A Twenty-Year Retrospective'' (
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...
, 1994) * ''Dal vivo'' (Fondazione Prada, 1999) * ''Night Life'' (Edition 7L, 2007) * ''All the Things I Lost in the Flood'' (Rizzoli Electa, 2018)


Personal life

She moved to New York in 1966 and now lives in
Tribeca Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stree ...
. Leland, John
"Laurie Anderson’s Glorious, Chaotic New York From performances for 'six people in a loft' to ''O Superman,'' MTV fame, and her time with Lou Reed, the artist reflects on her many years in New York."
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', April 21, 2017. Accessed February 25, 2019. "Ms. Anderson with her dog Willie near her home in TriBeCa."
Anderson was the romantic partner of fellow musician
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...
for 21 years. They were married in 2008 and remained together for the following five years until his death of liver cancer.


References


Further reading

* Golden, Barbara. "Conversation with Laurie Anderson"
''eContact! 12.2 – Interviews (2)''
(April 2010). Montréal: CEC. * Mutant, Mite.
Talking with Laurie Anderson
. ''Mutant Renegade Zine'' #7, June 1996. * Nicom, John.
Homeland insecurity: Laurie Anderson takes uncompromising look at how America has changed
. ''LJWorld.com''. September 12, 2008. *


External links

* * *
Some Notes on Seeing: The Waters Reglitterized
By Laurie Anderson for exhibition 2005 * *
Guardian interview.

A Life of Storytelling. An interview with Laurie Anderson, 2016
Video by Louisiana Channel
SoundCloud - Hear the world’s sounds
with Georgina Godwin
Advice to Young Artists. An interview with Laurie Anderson, 2016
Video by Louisiana Channel
Laurie Anderson on Self-Playing Violin, MoMA Audio

A Trip to the Moon. An interview with Laurie Anderson & Hsin-Chien Huang, 2018
Video by Louisiana Channel
''60 Minutes'' profile
April 3, 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Laurie 1947 births 20th-century American composers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American composers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American women singers American avant-garde musicians American experimental musicians 20th-century American inventors American multimedia artists American performance artists American spoken word poets American video artists American women film directors American women performance artists American women poets American women video artists Art pop musicians Art rock musicians Artists from New York (state) Avant-garde singers Barnard College alumni Columbia University alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Experimental composers Experimental pop musicians Living people Lou Reed Mills College alumni Nonesuch Records artists People from Glen Ellyn, Illinois Performance art in New York City Singers from Illinois Warner Records artists Wolf Prize in Arts laureates American women in electronic music Women inventors Film directors from Illinois Electric violinists 21st-century American violinists American experimental filmmakers People from Tribeca Women experimental filmmakers 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers Elektra Records artists