10/7/2004
Star Gazing
Writer: CARRIE SCHNEIDER
info@steelcitymedia.com
Laurie Anderson, the pixie-haired performance artist best known for her high-tech multimedia works, her 1981 hit song “O Superman” and her current position as NASA’s first-ever artist in residence, comes to Pittsburgh’s Byham Theater Oct. 13 and 14 with her most recent work, The End of the Moon. Speaking from a hotel room in Urbana, Ill., the self-described “wire head” discussed the culture of NASA, the state of the union, art as a forum for activism, and her expectations for the then-imminent Sept. 30 presidential debate (“I wish it weren’t so canned!”).
In his book Talking Music, William Duckworth said, “Laurie Anderson always seems to know what people are talking about.” What are you tapped into right now?
The End of the Moon is my “report” as NASA’s artist-in-residence. The piece is really about the science of art -- and the art of science. From what I’ve seen on my visits to NASA sites, 90 percent of the “stuff” in the universe is invisible. There is a lot of speculation about what that stuff is. In their research, scientists have to label it something, so they call the active parts “machos” -- and the inactive parts “wimps.” I had to ask, “Did Arnold Schwarzenegger write your grant proposal?”
Really, I’m interested in defining something you haven’t yet found. If I “find something before I find” it -- I’m not as open as I could be. [The End of the Moon] is about animals, travels, stars, wars -- looking at them through a filter of what we already know, and trying to understand them as stories. We listen to stories -- about politics, life, art -- and we choose what we believe based on these stories. But how are we judging what the criteria are?
During the administration of the first President Bush, you remarked that the country was going further and further to the right, and said, “[M]uch of my work has become political and engaged. I’m not even sure I’m an artist any more. More like a thinly disguised moralist.” Is this true today?
Not now, no. I don’t think I felt that then, either. Art isn’t a particularly effective forum for politics -- in the end I resent being told what to do, and I don’t like telling people what to do. But it’s hard not to be political these days; anytime you comment on culture, you take a political stance, even if we’re just trying to figure out what to do.
You’ve talked about the lessening technological burden on your performances, and how it has given you more freedom to improvise.
In this tour, [the technology has] all but disappeared into complicated software. What used to take two trucks [to transport] now fits into two suitcases. And that’s delightful.
The End of the Moon is a 6-month, 33-city North American tour. Given our current cultural climate, do you anticipate the project evolving?
I am trying to improvise. What works the best? Sometimes I don’t know -- what you think will be ridiculous, works. I do think there will be a big difference, night to night.
What are you most excited about on this tour?
I’m very excited that the writing is very different. A lot of people have said that it’s extremely, obviously different. Mostly because it’s not as much of a narrative. It’s more associative, very dreamlike. And I’m really happy about that. [The End of the Moon] is at a place now where it’s lurking between stories and songs.
Laurie Anderson performs The End of the Moon at 8 p.m. Wed., Oct. 13, and 8 p.m. Thu., Oct. 14. Byham Theater, Downtown. $35 ($10 for students). 412-456-6666.