Overlapping Realities: or, Who the Hell Is the Body Artist and Why You Should Experience It

There exists a book titled 'The Body Artist',written by Don DeLillo. But what does this have to do with Files on a String?

• First, Laurie Anderson herself has got some inclinations for "body art" (see page 109 of the Nerve Bible: 'What Is Body Art?'), mentioning that, in the late '70s, her work was described as (among others) "body art" or "performance art"

• Amelia Jones writes about Laurie Anderson's body art at length in her book 'Body Art / Performing the Subject', page 32:

• The body artist in the book's title is named Lauren (Hartke). She lives in New York.

• Lauren tends to wear flanel shirts and likes to take long errant walks.

• In 'Body Time', Lauren's performance piece, there's an "anonymous robotic voice of a tele­phone answering machine delivering a standard announcement" featured prominently, as "sound accom­paniment".

• Moreover, during the performance above, Lauren dramatically alters her (body and) voice and ends up at speaking in a male voice.

• Laurie Anderson mentions the writer of the book, Don DeLillo in 'The Cultural Ambassador' (track 17 on 'The Ugly One with the Jewels and Other Stories').

• Last but not least: in 2001, Laurie Anderson has recorded an unabridged audio version of the book*; it's entirely read by her; which means almost three hours** of pure treat for those who "would listen, enraptured, to Laurie Anderson read the phone book"***.

• UPDATE: one more thing - this just in: Laurie Anderson will read excerpts from Don Delillo's new book 'Point Omega' on the 14th of November, 2010, in Estoril, Portugalia.

* Mnemosyne has got her copy from Ebay. Good luck.

** "Three f*cking hours. Why not four? Why not seven? Why not eight? she says" - sorry, I could not resist this citation from 'The Body Artist' by Don DeLillo, page 107.

*** comment by an enthusiastic viewer named mytmyt, under the Youtube video of Laurie Anderson's part in 2004 Dramatic Reading of the U. S. Constitution. Amen.

Big Science - to remind us of our insignificant size

Coo coo coo it's cold outside.
Coo coo coo it's cold outside.
Ooo coo coo. Don't forget your mittens.

And so, because it was spring,
and because I had avoided it for so long,
I set off, lowering myself into a hole
and then out onto the wide plain.
A sky full of autumn.
And everything shaking, long blue shadows.

I carry a photograph of a city.
A car comes driving out of a film,
headlights blinking and goes right past.
Hello. Excuse me. Can you tell me where I am?

Hey Pal! How do I get to town from here?
And he said: Well just take a right where they're going to build that new shopping mall,
go straight past where they're going to put in the freeway,
take a left at what's going to be the new sports center,
and keep going until you hit the place where they're thinking of building that drive-in bank.
You can't miss it.
And I said: This must be the place.

Ooo coo coo. Golden cities. Golden towns.
Golden cities. Golden towns.
And long cars in long lines and great big signs
and they all say:
Hallelujah. Yodellayheehoo.
Every man for himself.

Ooo coo coo. Golden cities. Golden towns.
Thanks for the ride.

Big Science. Hallelujah.
Big Science. Yodellayheehoo.

It was such a huge hole, right in the middle of the city.
And so the architects were summoned.
"How about a hill of beans?", says one.
"No, how about something very tall?
Very large number and terrific height that will stagger the senses.
Maybe impersonating people."
"What about a slab of cheese?", says the other.
"Something pure, organic. Something everyone will like".
"Well, a slab of cheese, or a donut.
Something with thoughts of happier times.
Don’t make it look abandoned.
Or like it’s been irradiated.
Another large and noble empty plaza to remind us of our insignificant size."

"How about a fancy banister?
One that goes all the way to Mars?
Or one made of teardrops and spilled ink?"

You know, I think we should put some mountains here.
Otherwise, what are all the characters going to fall off of?
And what about stairs?

Yodellayheehoo. Ooo coo coo.

Here's a man who lives a life of danger.
Everywhere he goes, he stays - a stranger.
Howdy stranger. Mind if I smoke?
And he said: Every man, every man for himself.
Every man, every man for himself.
All in favor say aye.

"Now Winnie, we've got unfinished business, you all know what it is I bet"
So who the hell or what, I said to myself.
Let's look at whose fault this actually was.
Let's throw in the towel, shall we.
Let's look at whose fault it was and assign it right now.
All we're talking about gold and winners -
Let's talk about who the losers are.

Big Science. Hallelujah.
Big Science. Yodellayheehoo.

Hey Professor! Could you turn out the lights?
Let's roll the film.

I smelled a certain something.
I smiled.
Play it one frame at a time, I said.
Let's go back and play it one frame at a time.

Big Science. Hallelujah.
Every man, every man for himself.
Big Science. Hallelujah.
Yodellayheehoo.

('Big Science' lyrics by Laurie Anderson (1980?))

(fragments of 'The End of the Moon', lyrics by Laurie Anderson (2004))

The pictures are screengrabs from a delicate short film called 'Life on a String', composed onto the music of the Laurie Anderson album with the same title, directed by Steven Lippman.

I didn't know what was wrong with...

... Tim Knox's portrait of Laurie Anderson (see the original below the link),

until I

mirrored it horizontally.

Then and Now #5: the Blocks of Ice

1975: 'Duets on Ice' in Genova, Italy. Laurie Anderson and two Italian men on different levels of sociability.

Photo by Bob Bielecki

2005: Laurie Anderson opens her exhibition 'The Record of Time' at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland.

Photo source: Profimedia

"I love duets so I made a violin that plays by itself, so that I could play duets with it live. This combination of live and pre-recorded has been basic to my work for ever. This violin was played in five different places around New York. It was an endless cassette loop. Like many minimal pieces, it would start and yards and yards of material would go by and then it would stop, it didn't have a narrative structure typical to music, that's why it was minimalism."

"I used for this timing mechanism, for this endless piece of music a pair of ice-skates which I wore with their blades frozen into blocks of ice. I played this piece - endless loop - until the ice melted and I lost my balance and the concert was over. So, there I was, on this hot summer street of New York, wearing these ice-skates that were sort of gradually wobbling and then my ankles would splay out and the concert would be over and people were like "what's that?". But, for me, it had the social aspect of an audience which I really did enjoy as an artist because my question is always: who are you talking to? Who's your audience? Who are you making this for? History? Other artists? Critics? Your friends? General public? Box office? Who?"

(Laurie Anderson, on her Self-Playing Violin,

part of the MoMA's collection in New York)

If you go to the MoMA collection's website, you can listen to Laurie Anderson describe her Self-Playing Violin (1974) and 'Duets on Ice'.

United Sleevefaces

I just can't decide which sleeveface* of United States Live is better:

Original here: sleeveface.com

Original here: Kokopelli / de Volkskrant

* sleeveface = "one or more persons obscurings or augmenting any part of the body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion. You're basically posing with the record label as though it were a part of your own body." (UrbanDictionary)

Just because it was there

Laurie Anderson on Canal Street near her studio on a chilly day sometime in the 80s.

Photo by Allan Tannenbaum

When Thinking of Walking the Dog Goes Psycho

Concentration. Empty your mind.

Let the rest of the world go by.

Hold your breath.

Hold your breath.

Close your eyes.

Close your eyes.

Now imagine you're at the most wonderful party.

Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall asleep

There’ll be a party there

Delicious food.

No wonder these puppets

Are always in a lousy mood

Interesting people.

Americans unrooted blow with the wind

Terrific music.

That came from their radios

That came from their gods

Now open them!

But they feel the truth if it touches them

Oh no.

Well, I just want to go home now
and walk
the dog.

?

• When the doctor says: "Congratulations, it’s a boy!", where do all the dream baby girls, those possible pearls, go?

• How can I get control? How can I take control?

• Are those two people over there actually my real parents?

• Should I get a second Prius?

• Has everybody here forgotten how to think?

... just some of the cca. 34 questions posed in 'Homeland'. Not your typical pop album, to say the least.

Then and Now #2: The Croc Coat

Just love the way she recycles these crazy outfits, no matter what the type of the event.

2007: a New York social moment:

(Original photo here)

2010: Sydney, Australia, Concert for Dogs. Knuckles meets Laurie Anderson, LOL:

(Original photo by dunapoo)

Then and Now #1: The Red Tie

Too much time on my hands...

1990: a screen capture from the 'Beautiful Red Dress' video:

2008: McGarrigle Xmas concert:

(Original photo by griffinshot)