The Ambience of Memory

'Egypt. Sunken Treasures', an extensive travelling exhibition of ancient Egyptian relics excavated from underwater in the area of the Nile Delta had a special extra feature in Italy: the musical / sound environment of the exhibition in Veneria was provided by Laurie Anderson.

Watch the video and enjoy the unique atmosphere supported by a hypnotic instrumental version of 'The Beginning of Memory' (at 0:53):

Thanks to Viki for the URL!

Out of Luck with Forum Romanum :(

Italian newspaper La Repubblica held a Q & A forum for Laurie Anderson and the readers of the newspaper in Rome, December 2010. (Although having been informed about the event right in time before travelling to Rome, no matter how hard Mnemosyne and her friends tried they could not get the information on the whereabouts and date of the forum... argh!)

Now La Repubblica's online manifestation has published a video of the event; alas, dubbed in Italian. What's more, at the expense of intelligibility. :( Anyway, enjoy what you can make out of it:

Hopefully the English translation of the transcript helps some...

UPDATE: A photo gallery of the event in the Rome section of La Repubblica.

Laurie Anderson Live in San Remo 2001

"Cantiamo hey, hey, nonny hey"

In 2001, Laurie Anderson was awarded by the Tenco Prize (Premio Tenco) for songwriting in San Remo. She also performed a set of songs at the ceremony. By clicking to the picture above, you can enjoy the concert in its entirety :)

Setlist:

1. Strange Angels
2. Wildebeests (in Italian)
3. One Beautiful Evening (in mixed Italo-English) *
4. Poison
5. Broken
6. Progress (a. k. a. The Dream Before)
7. Beginning French (in Italian)
8. O Superman
9. Slip Away
10. White Lily
11. Puppet Motel
12. Love Among the Sailors

* caution: suggestive performance!

Rome Coverage

Click to the picture above for Mauro Fagiani's concert photos of Laurie Anderson's 'Delusion' in Rome, Italy, December 2010.


Plus Italian tv's reportage about Laurie Anderson's and Nina Hagen's recent performances in Rome:

Concert Photography from Italia

Laurie Anderson in Firenze, Nov 2010

photo by Carlo Valentini

Laurie Anderson in Italy, 1988

Photo by Carlo Valentini

Hint: click to any of the photos for more Laurie Anderson concert portraits from Italy by photographer Carlo Valentini.

From Rome with Luv

(Auditorium Parco Della Musica in Rome, Italy, December 2010)

Intervista Laurie Anderson

"When economics goes down, art gets better. Because people improvise. [...] People will not stop making art, no way. They will make it in a different way. And it can be then exciting. [...] It will never disappear."

(Laurie Anderson on RAI TV, November 2010)

Click to the picture to watch a recent web exclusive interview with Laurie Anderson made for RAI TV in Firenze, Italy.

(Some tags for the impatient: Miracle in Milan. Balzac. Political-personal-mental delusion. Motivations. Politics = stories = acts of imagination. Invasion of words / language / music. Crying. Tyranny of the rectangle. The importance of teaching. Economics and art. Capitalist Realism. Inspiration from Lolabelle. Lolabelle's Christmas record. 1,000 chicken waiting for being named. Cows with open stomachs. "Children" with problems.)

"Like Fine Wine"

Read Cheryl Martlage's review of 'Delusion' in Florence, Italy (in English), along with a neat description of Laurie Anderson's art,  the specifically Italian atmosphere of the event, plus a stage photo and video.

"Anatomical Study of the Soul of Laurie Anderson"

A review of 'Delusion' in Firenze in the Italian Rolling Stone Magazine - thanks to Google, we can read the English translation of it. Also worth checking out the photo gallery along the article.

Una meditazione sulle parole e le cose, sulla vita e il linguaggio

Intoscana's report about the Italian premiere of 'Delusion' in Firenze (dubbed in Italian):

'Delusion' in Firenze

'Delusion' in Firenze, November 2010

photo by giagir / Flickr

For more photos of 'Delusion' in Firenze, click to giagir's album.

More from Florence

Italy luvs Laurie and that's alright. :)

• Around Tuscany's review of the press conference of Florens 2010 Festival - which the Italian premiere of Laurie Anderson's 'Delusion' is part of.

• And here is the English translation of another article on the same event, along with more winner photos like this one:

Laurie Anderson in Florence, Italy, November 2010

Photo by Emanuel Anuvoli, goldworld.it

'Delusion' Debut in Italy: Florence

Laurie Anderson in Florence, November 2010

Photo by Guido Mannucci

Click here for a whole gallery of photos of today from Florence, Italy (source: la Repubblica FIRENZE).

Smells Like Some Gaps in the Map...

• Nov 5-14 2010: Estoril Film Festival (Portugal) - member of the jury along with Lou Reed
• Nov 6 2010: East Sussex (UK) - Transitory Life
• Nov 9 2010: Chorzow (Poland) - Transitory Life
• Nov 11 2010: Bucharest (Romania) - Transitory Life
• Nov 13 2010: Florence / Firence (Italy) - Delusion
• Nov 25 2010: Bilbao (Spain) - Transitory Life
• Dec 2 2010: Rome (Italy) - Delusion

... but hey! Laurie is coming to Europe this fall!!! Go and check out the dates and venues and ticket infos on Angelika's recently updated Spreken website and take a look at the Strange Angel on the Brooklyn Bridge! :)

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'.

Good afternoon. Pause.

Just a random post of a random goodness on this lazy Saturday.

My mind is blank. I'm barely alive. 
My nerves are shot. I feel like hell.
Guess it's time to check in at the Puppet Motel.

(picture source: San Remo, 2001, Laurie Anderson's live concert after getting Premio Tenco = Tenco Prize, a prestigious Italian award for songwriting)