Laurie Anderson Avant-garde performance artist and pop icon Laurie Anderson.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Laurie Anderson

The celebrated performance artist discusses Andy Warhol, NASA and her work at McDonald’s

  • By Kenneth R. Fletcher
  • Smithsonian magazine, August 2008

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    Laurie Anderson's career has ranged far and wide since she emerged in the 1970s as an avant-garde performance artist and scored a hit on the pop charts in 1980. Recently, Anderson gave a talk at the Smithsonian's Reynolds Center. She spoke with the magazine's Kenneth R. Fletcher.

    What's the message in your work?
    If I had a message, I would write it down and e-mail it to everybody. I would save a lot of paint that way. My work is more about trying to create images through words and pictures. I want to evoke a reaction more than explain anything clearly. I don't like things to be confused, but I like them to be multifaceted.

    You started out in the 1960s and 1970s as an artist and you became a pop hit in the 1980s. How was that transition?
    I didn't know anything about the pop world. I was just an artist in New York and I had made a record that I was distributing by mail order. People would call me up on the phone and say, "Can I get this record?" I would go over to a carton, pick it up and go to the post office with it. I had pressed 1,000 records of something I had done on an NEA grant called O Superman. Then I got a call one afternoon from a guy in Britain who said "I'd like to order some records. I'll need 40,000 Thursday and 40,000 more on Monday." So I said, "Right. Okay. I'll get right back to you."

    I called Warner Brothers and said, "Listen, I need to press a bunch of records, could you help me with it?" And they said, "That's not how we do things at Warner Brothers Records. What we do is you sign an eight-record deal." And I was like, "What?"

    So that's what I did, because I thought that could be interesting. I tried very hard not to be seduced by that kind of world. I had a lot of fun with it. You get out of a car and everyone is screaming, it was just funny for me. They were like, "Can I get your autograph? Oh my god!" and "It's really you." For me I felt like an anthropologist.

    In 2002 you were NASA's first artist in residence, Why you?
    Because I have a reputation for being a gear head and a wire head. It was a really great gig. I went to mission control in Pasadena, and I met the guy who figures out how to color the stars in the photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

    The opportunity came about completely out of the blue, as many things are in my life. Somebody called and said "Do you want to be the first artist in residence at NASA?" and I said "What does that mean in a space program?" and they said " Well, we don't know what that means. What does it mean to you?" I was like "Who are you people? What does it mean to me? What are you talking about?"

    You've also worked at McDonald's.
    Yeah. I began to think, "How can I escape this trap of just experiencing what I expect?" I decided maybe I would just try to put myself in places where I don't know what to do, what to say, or how to act. So, I did things like working at McDonald's and on an Amish farm, which had no technology whatsoever.

    Laurie Anderson's career has ranged far and wide since she emerged in the 1970s as an avant-garde performance artist and scored a hit on the pop charts in 1980. Recently, Anderson gave a talk at the Smithsonian's Reynolds Center. She spoke with the magazine's Kenneth R. Fletcher.

    What's the message in your work?
    If I had a message, I would write it down and e-mail it to everybody. I would save a lot of paint that way. My work is more about trying to create images through words and pictures. I want to evoke a reaction more than explain anything clearly. I don't like things to be confused, but I like them to be multifaceted.

    You started out in the 1960s and 1970s as an artist and you became a pop hit in the 1980s. How was that transition?
    I didn't know anything about the pop world. I was just an artist in New York and I had made a record that I was distributing by mail order. People would call me up on the phone and say, "Can I get this record?" I would go over to a carton, pick it up and go to the post office with it. I had pressed 1,000 records of something I had done on an NEA grant called O Superman. Then I got a call one afternoon from a guy in Britain who said "I'd like to order some records. I'll need 40,000 Thursday and 40,000 more on Monday." So I said, "Right. Okay. I'll get right back to you."

    I called Warner Brothers and said, "Listen, I need to press a bunch of records, could you help me with it?" And they said, "That's not how we do things at Warner Brothers Records. What we do is you sign an eight-record deal." And I was like, "What?"

    So that's what I did, because I thought that could be interesting. I tried very hard not to be seduced by that kind of world. I had a lot of fun with it. You get out of a car and everyone is screaming, it was just funny for me. They were like, "Can I get your autograph? Oh my god!" and "It's really you." For me I felt like an anthropologist.

    In 2002 you were NASA's first artist in residence, Why you?
    Because I have a reputation for being a gear head and a wire head. It was a really great gig. I went to mission control in Pasadena, and I met the guy who figures out how to color the stars in the photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

    The opportunity came about completely out of the blue, as many things are in my life. Somebody called and said "Do you want to be the first artist in residence at NASA?" and I said "What does that mean in a space program?" and they said " Well, we don't know what that means. What does it mean to you?" I was like "Who are you people? What does it mean to me? What are you talking about?"

    You've also worked at McDonald's.
    Yeah. I began to think, "How can I escape this trap of just experiencing what I expect?" I decided maybe I would just try to put myself in places where I don't know what to do, what to say, or how to act. So, I did things like working at McDonald's and on an Amish farm, which had no technology whatsoever.

    What do you need to "escape" from?
    At heart, I'm an anthropologist. I try to jump out of my skin. I normally see the world as an artist first, second as a New Yorker and third as a woman. That's a perspective that I sometimes would like to escape. It's why in my performances I use audio filters to change my voice. That's a way to escape as well.

    To become somebody else?
    Yeah, to have another voice. If you sound different you find that you have different things. If you sound like (high voice) a little kid or (low voice) you sound like a guy that's just sort of lost. It's just a way to switch perspectives and that's really important to me.

    At the Smithsonian, you gave a lecture about Andy Warhol and his "Little Electric Chair" series. Why Warhol?
    I feel like we are living in Andy's world now. It's the world that he defined in so many ways and his obsessions with fame and violence and ego. You just look around and go, "Wow, he was doing that 30 years ago!"

    American culture was going that way and he nailed it. It's completely fascinating how he came up with those categories and American life became that way.

    Why the electric chair?
    I think for me it combines a lot of things. One was this idea of tabloid stuff. We don't allow images of people being electrocuted, for example. Another is the factory image, the multiple stuff, it's a kind of death factory. People pass through that and it involves technology as well in a way, it's the power of electricity....

    Are you running out of time?
    I am running out of time. My assistant is waving his hands, saying "You have to go now or you'll be dead!"


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    Comments

    Why would Laurie Anderson "be dead!" if she didn't "go now"? This is a concern to me.

    Posted by Margo McLaughlin on July 29,2008 | 02:41PM

    Warhol Won! Laurie's perspective is wonderful. We need more people like her to have their voices heard.

    Posted by atomic elroy on July 29,2008 | 03:36PM

    Hey Laurie Loved O Superman and everything else you've done. Just keep putting it out there... joeblowglassworks.com

    Posted by Jeff Burnette on July 30,2008 | 09:33AM

    To Margo: "Be dead" eupemism for be in a lot of trouble. So she had to catch a flight or had some other very important appointment. Another interview perhaps.

    Posted by james on August 4,2008 | 03:42AM

    Listening to Laurie Anderson, or watching her perform, some of my very favorite things to do for well over twenty years now, I get strong flashes of connection to Joni Mitchell. Is this just me? Am I way off base? Or, is there a connection? Would Laurie say she was influenced by Joni? Do they know each other? Hang out in NYC? -- Curious

    Posted by Josh Koenig on August 15,2008 | 12:12PM

    To me, the line "..go now or you'll be dead!" seems to have a very significant meaning. Keep moving through life or you will die, literally. I think it's a great thought to leave the readers of the interview with. What a cool chick.

    Posted by Tressa on August 21,2008 | 02:01PM

    You Rock Laurie, always have, always will.

    Posted by Jewel Heart on August 21,2008 | 11:15PM

    Margo M. You're kidding right? A turn of phrase I believe it is called......... Or check out Tressa's comment. Be concerned about who will be our next president; or how about the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan - lots of dead people there. Laurie. Thanks for another perspective. I particularly like the change in voices point of view.

    Posted by Judith on August 22,2008 | 08:10AM

    "..go now or you'll be dead!" Nice! A less nuanced interpretation is that the assistant was signaling she would run late for her next appointment or interview...

    Posted by Diane Rooney on August 22,2008 | 11:02AM

    Too bad the media doesn't focus on artists like Laurie Anderson more often... maybe then we'd get away from the fame-celebrity-obsessed world in which we live. When will the people demand more instead of being sheep?

    Posted by Ann Tracy on August 25,2008 | 11:12AM

    Say hello to Lou for us, Laurie.

    Posted by friedlinx on September 7,2008 | 04:59PM

    I have always been amazed at Laurie's storytelling ability. When I saw her 6 years ago a story that started making us laugh ended up with us in tears, and you never even felt the transition that deeply. You just moved with her. I get to see her again in 5 hours in Gainesville, FL, and I am so ready to be moved. And Laurie Anderson is just the artist to do it. Live long, Ms. Reed.

    Posted by Stephen Grayce on September 16,2008 | 11:46AM

    I took my mom to see Laurie During Mr. Heartbreak days, I think at Berkeley Community Theater. Mom always said it was the greatest show she has ever seen. BTW I am one of the clowns that have a signed Mr Heartbreak LP. Thanks Laurie! E.

    Posted by Edward Grylich on May 21,2009 | 06:29PM

    Love Laurie Anderson! There's a great feature in FLYP about her favorite things: http://www.flypmedia.com/issues/plus/08/#1/1

    Posted by Annie Mallard on July 6,2009 | 01:03PM

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