Full Article Text
tIN]SECUFIITY
**"Jd}l{: l1.ll1:{:n#;:tN ;:{"..i 3'?,*. {) f" *f: &T,.A*.F}lr,}.*a
rzY r',4t:?a /..rtL- ;;*J 7
very festival has its own personality, and when
performance artist Laurie Anderson is asked
about what makes Spoleto Festival USA unique,
she immediately mentions the open-minded audiences.
"lt's a softer place," she says of the festival's host
city, Charleston, where she'll be performing her newest
work, Homeland. "People are up for something.
They're not just going to pounce on you, and I really
appreciate that attitude." Anderson, who first came to
the festival in 1989 with the opera Empty Places and
returned in 1999 with the music/theater piece Songs
and Stories from Moby Dick, sees similarities in attitude
between Charleston and San Francisco: "They're very
smart people but they're more easygoing than the big
'factory mentality' towns like L.A."
Homeland will offer this year's festival-goers an
intimate concert experience, featuring Anderson and
C ;t t: i::; :l r:., i o ltJ {} l e ti /, a/.} r r t e t.y' t:t L a ; r : + &.t1 r it t,r L t' a1
i\,r),J*: l.
"*{1t:,: l 1(1crr,,)r,, s:l:t:tr: l;y llt.:tt:: {cstt:lit:,?..three other musicians. rather than a multi-media
extravaganza. Standing on a darkened stage, Anderson
tells stories and sings songs, often with her electric violin
dangling from her neck like a third arm. Dreamy
retellings of scenes from the ancient Greek satire Ihe
Birds glide into pointed political commentary with the
refrain "Your silence is considered your consent,"
followed by a song about "the experts" that would feel
right at home on a dance floor.
"lf I had to analyze what Homeland is about," says
Anderson, "a third of it is very political, a third is very
beautiful and a third is music. lt's not political in the
sense of my saying, 'Here's what we should do.'
Because obviouslv I don't know either and even if I did
know, I wouldn't try to foist my opinions on people.
"lt's a great time to be doing things that involve stories
because we're really into analyzing stories right
sPoLETOtrtltTtVAr USA,ii-}.:,r: 1 23
now. Stories are magical. Stories can start wars. lt
doesn't even matter if they're true as long as they're
good stories."
Anderson has been telling stories in one form or
another her entire career. Born in an affluent suburb
outside Chicago, Anderson-who turns 61 during
Spoleto-has described a boring, safe world that gave
her a hunger for the unusual. Even routine church-
going-endured by kids everywhere-provoked
Anderson, who talks in Homeland about starting a
"snow religion," a faith where there's no good or bad,
just "perfect crystals spinning in ecstasy."
"l kind of had my own religion," says Anderson of
her childhood. "l was like a nature worshipper.
I remember going to school and looking up at these
trees that were 20 stories high. I remember if I felt bad
I would go out and lie in the grass and look up at the
sky. lt was a religion for me."
She escaped-as children often do-and studied art
history at Barnard College and received her MFA at
Columbia. Playful, witty performance art pieces soon
followed, such as a symphony played via car horns
and slamming car doors. A bit of serendipity led to a
song of hers being championed by legendary British
deejay John Peel, turning "O Superman" into a No. 2
hit in the UK. Major record labels came calling, and
Anderson soon parlayed their interest into funding for
massive multi-media works like United Stafes and
eventually the 1986 feature film Home of the Brave.
Anderson became arguably the most popular, best-
known performance artist in the world, and in the
process redefined and expanded the role of the artist
vis-a-vis the mainstream.
But even this brief description doesn't begin to
scratch the surface of her work, which ranges from
sculpture, music and theater pieces to film scores, books
and inventions like the talking stick and the tape-bow
violin. lf anything characterizes the career of Anderson,
it may be a playful sense of curiosity-she has notebooks
filled with scraps of information, stray bits of conversation,
odd facts, interesting news articles, stories and images,
all of it waiting to be mined for future works.
Anderson has maintained that curiosiV on this current
project by writing the piece on the road, constantly
working in new elements and using a rotating group of
musicians to perform it. Among the artists who have
crossed her path during the creation of Homeland are
a group of Tuvan throat singers from southern Siberia.
"l asked them to come play with me on this
European tour," says Anderson. "lt was a gorgeous"Stories are magical.
Stories can start wars.
It doesn't even matter if
they're true as long as
they're good stories."
t1:.\?: E*1ptl ?la{:et: al 9frtt.llo l;.lstiret t$A 19fr1}, l}t1*i:.r} l.}! " :it1ti}i':\ l:ii,:111',1t
*al'iorr,: 9ongs and Strries fran: f."/lt:by []ilk r;ir,]r'.tl::.j Ftrtrtal ti?,|'. \?;91, pl:t:t-s l:y iti:\li;rt'!it::tl:r:
summer night and at the end they were packing up and
getting ready to go. I realized their Russian manager had
made no arrangements for them to get back to the hotel.
So they were planning to walk back. lt was a two-hour
drive. But they're nomads so they were going to walk."
That's Anderson in a nutshell-intellectually curious,
artistically adventurous and open to the amusing
contradictions and juxtapositions of life on planet
Earth (or "planet dirt" as one early draft of the show
suggested the world should be called). No wonder her
artist bio says Anderson is working on both a new
album (drawn from Homeland\ for the Nonesuch label
and a "series of very long walks."
"l just like going on walks," laughs Anderson when
asked if she was pulling an Art Garfunkel and walking
across America in stages or some such ambitious
project. "lt's the same thing like doing multi-media
performance art. You can say that a walk with your dog
through very historic places is your artwork and people
will go,'Okay. I guess so.'
"So many things are included in art now. lt started
with John Cage saying, 'Sixth Avenue is a symphony.
Just listen.' Then those ltalian guys saying, 'This pile of
Ait ;.t.t r: : l l : t t t : t: i :: ; ; t i r, ) | | i-i\,.t, : I ta * i ;:: ?. r d t: t: 0 ?"That's Anderson in a
n utshel l-i ntel lectua I ly
curious, artistically adventurous
and open to the amusing
juxtapositions of life on
planet Earth..."
dirt. That's art.'There's this artist in New York whose art
is having affairs with collectors. That's her work. So
walking with my dog; that's my work."
And Charleston is ideal for inspiration, "the perfect
place to be outside all day," says Anderson. "l really
enjoy walking around the small streets. lt's a new piece
I call 'Walking Around Charleston's Small Streets."'
Wichat;! #iltr ir: * lre*lanr:+: r,vritr:r '!se**tj i* ?l*'x "{r:rk
vrh* **v*rs €{rie{te;{t{rr8nt. f*r Lhe l.it:';': Yr:rtr< *ailtl
hj*vrs, T*.r; &Cv*r,at;.:t, l"tt"tlfi*Utt:r: f t:s:|" arzr.l fit.Jrfitft.j!.iS
*l.hr:r ;:u/:lit:::s!.ir:rzr;. l-lr: r.:ar; !:t: ft:t.srtrj *s:!l** al
x/t't /rt. f)t)l)ti;t.j {{ittg "r:*r:.
S POLETO tra-tl | :..1 /.:ti L)S A:.:t :f:t:) 1 25
**"Jd}l{: l1.ll1:{:n#;:tN ;:{"..i 3'?,*. {) f" *f: &T,.A*.F}lr,}.*a
rzY r',4t:?a /..rtL- ;;*J 7
very festival has its own personality, and when
performance artist Laurie Anderson is asked
about what makes Spoleto Festival USA unique,
she immediately mentions the open-minded audiences.
"lt's a softer place," she says of the festival's host
city, Charleston, where she'll be performing her newest
work, Homeland. "People are up for something.
They're not just going to pounce on you, and I really
appreciate that attitude." Anderson, who first came to
the festival in 1989 with the opera Empty Places and
returned in 1999 with the music/theater piece Songs
and Stories from Moby Dick, sees similarities in attitude
between Charleston and San Francisco: "They're very
smart people but they're more easygoing than the big
'factory mentality' towns like L.A."
Homeland will offer this year's festival-goers an
intimate concert experience, featuring Anderson and
C ;t t: i::; :l r:., i o ltJ {} l e ti /, a/.} r r t e t.y' t:t L a ; r : + &.t1 r it t,r L t' a1
i\,r),J*: l.
"*{1t:,: l 1(1crr,,)r,, s:l:t:tr: l;y llt.:tt:: {cstt:lit:,?..three other musicians. rather than a multi-media
extravaganza. Standing on a darkened stage, Anderson
tells stories and sings songs, often with her electric violin
dangling from her neck like a third arm. Dreamy
retellings of scenes from the ancient Greek satire Ihe
Birds glide into pointed political commentary with the
refrain "Your silence is considered your consent,"
followed by a song about "the experts" that would feel
right at home on a dance floor.
"lf I had to analyze what Homeland is about," says
Anderson, "a third of it is very political, a third is very
beautiful and a third is music. lt's not political in the
sense of my saying, 'Here's what we should do.'
Because obviouslv I don't know either and even if I did
know, I wouldn't try to foist my opinions on people.
"lt's a great time to be doing things that involve stories
because we're really into analyzing stories right
sPoLETOtrtltTtVAr USA,ii-}.:,r: 1 23
now. Stories are magical. Stories can start wars. lt
doesn't even matter if they're true as long as they're
good stories."
Anderson has been telling stories in one form or
another her entire career. Born in an affluent suburb
outside Chicago, Anderson-who turns 61 during
Spoleto-has described a boring, safe world that gave
her a hunger for the unusual. Even routine church-
going-endured by kids everywhere-provoked
Anderson, who talks in Homeland about starting a
"snow religion," a faith where there's no good or bad,
just "perfect crystals spinning in ecstasy."
"l kind of had my own religion," says Anderson of
her childhood. "l was like a nature worshipper.
I remember going to school and looking up at these
trees that were 20 stories high. I remember if I felt bad
I would go out and lie in the grass and look up at the
sky. lt was a religion for me."
She escaped-as children often do-and studied art
history at Barnard College and received her MFA at
Columbia. Playful, witty performance art pieces soon
followed, such as a symphony played via car horns
and slamming car doors. A bit of serendipity led to a
song of hers being championed by legendary British
deejay John Peel, turning "O Superman" into a No. 2
hit in the UK. Major record labels came calling, and
Anderson soon parlayed their interest into funding for
massive multi-media works like United Stafes and
eventually the 1986 feature film Home of the Brave.
Anderson became arguably the most popular, best-
known performance artist in the world, and in the
process redefined and expanded the role of the artist
vis-a-vis the mainstream.
But even this brief description doesn't begin to
scratch the surface of her work, which ranges from
sculpture, music and theater pieces to film scores, books
and inventions like the talking stick and the tape-bow
violin. lf anything characterizes the career of Anderson,
it may be a playful sense of curiosity-she has notebooks
filled with scraps of information, stray bits of conversation,
odd facts, interesting news articles, stories and images,
all of it waiting to be mined for future works.
Anderson has maintained that curiosiV on this current
project by writing the piece on the road, constantly
working in new elements and using a rotating group of
musicians to perform it. Among the artists who have
crossed her path during the creation of Homeland are
a group of Tuvan throat singers from southern Siberia.
"l asked them to come play with me on this
European tour," says Anderson. "lt was a gorgeous"Stories are magical.
Stories can start wars.
It doesn't even matter if
they're true as long as
they're good stories."
t1:.\?: E*1ptl ?la{:et: al 9frtt.llo l;.lstiret t$A 19fr1}, l}t1*i:.r} l.}! " :it1ti}i':\ l:ii,:111',1t
*al'iorr,: 9ongs and Strries fran: f."/lt:by []ilk r;ir,]r'.tl::.j Ftrtrtal ti?,|'. \?;91, pl:t:t-s l:y iti:\li;rt'!it::tl:r:
summer night and at the end they were packing up and
getting ready to go. I realized their Russian manager had
made no arrangements for them to get back to the hotel.
So they were planning to walk back. lt was a two-hour
drive. But they're nomads so they were going to walk."
That's Anderson in a nutshell-intellectually curious,
artistically adventurous and open to the amusing
contradictions and juxtapositions of life on planet
Earth (or "planet dirt" as one early draft of the show
suggested the world should be called). No wonder her
artist bio says Anderson is working on both a new
album (drawn from Homeland\ for the Nonesuch label
and a "series of very long walks."
"l just like going on walks," laughs Anderson when
asked if she was pulling an Art Garfunkel and walking
across America in stages or some such ambitious
project. "lt's the same thing like doing multi-media
performance art. You can say that a walk with your dog
through very historic places is your artwork and people
will go,'Okay. I guess so.'
"So many things are included in art now. lt started
with John Cage saying, 'Sixth Avenue is a symphony.
Just listen.' Then those ltalian guys saying, 'This pile of
Ait ;.t.t r: : l l : t t t : t: i :: ; ; t i r, ) | | i-i\,.t, : I ta * i ;:: ?. r d t: t: 0 ?"That's Anderson in a
n utshel l-i ntel lectua I ly
curious, artistically adventurous
and open to the amusing
juxtapositions of life on
planet Earth..."
dirt. That's art.'There's this artist in New York whose art
is having affairs with collectors. That's her work. So
walking with my dog; that's my work."
And Charleston is ideal for inspiration, "the perfect
place to be outside all day," says Anderson. "l really
enjoy walking around the small streets. lt's a new piece
I call 'Walking Around Charleston's Small Streets."'
Wichat;! #iltr ir: * lre*lanr:+: r,vritr:r '!se**tj i* ?l*'x "{r:rk
vrh* **v*rs €{rie{te;{t{rr8nt. f*r Lhe l.it:';': Yr:rtr< *ailtl
hj*vrs, T*.r; &Cv*r,at;.:t, l"tt"tlfi*Utt:r: f t:s:|" arzr.l fit.Jrfitft.j!.iS
*l.hr:r ;:u/:lit:::s!.ir:rzr;. l-lr: r.:ar; !:t: ft:t.srtrj *s:!l** al
x/t't /rt. f)t)l)ti;t.j {{ittg "r:*r:.
S POLETO tra-tl | :..1 /.:ti L)S A:.:t :f:t:) 1 25