Laurie Anderson

For other people, seeLaurie Anderson (disambiguation).

Laurie Anderson
Anderson in 2020
Background information
Birth name	Laura Phillips Anderson
Born	(1947-06-05)June 5, 1947 Glen Ellyn, Illinois,U.S.
Genres	Art pop electronic avant-garde spoken word
Occupations	Musician composer performance artist electronic literature writer
Instruments	Violin keyboards percussion vocals
Years active	1969–present
Labels	Warner Bros.,Nonesuch/Elektra
Spouse	Lou Reed ​ ​ (m.2008; died 2013)​
Website	laurieanderson

Laura Phillips"Laurie"Anderson(born June 5, 1947) is an Americanavant-gardeartist,musician and filmmaker whose work spansperformance art,pop music,andmultimediaprojects.Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Anderson pursued a variety of performance art projects inNew Yorkduring the 1970s, focusing particularly on language, technology, and visual imagery.She achieved unexpected commercial success when her song "O Superman"reached number two on the UK singles chart in 1981.

Anderson's debut albumBig Sciencewas released in 1982 and has since been followed by a number of studio and live albums. She starred in and directed the 1986 concert filmHome of the Brave.Anderson's creative output has also included theatrical and documentary works, voice acting, art installations, and aCD-ROM.She is a pioneer inelectronic musicand has invented several musical devices that she has used in her recordings and performance art shows.

Early life and education

Laura Phillips Anderson was born inGlen Ellyn, Illinois,on June 5, 1947, the daughter of Mary Louise (née Rowland) and Arthur T. AndersonShe had seven siblings, and on weekends she studied painting at theArt Institute of Chicagoand played with theChicago Youth Symphony.

She graduated fromGlenbard West High School.She attendedMills Collegein California, and after moving to New York in 1966,graduated in 1969 fromBarnard Collegewith aB.A.magna cum laudeandPhi Beta Kappa,studyingart history.In 1972, she obtained anM.F.A.in sculpture fromColumbia University.

Her first performance-art piece — a symphony played on automobile horns — was performed in 1969. In 1970, she drew theunderground comixBaloney Moccasins,which was published byGeorge DiCaprio.In the early 1970s, she worked as an art instructor, as an art critic for magazines such asArtforum,and illustrated children's books—the first of which was titledThe Package,a mystery story in pictures alone.

Career

1970s

Photograph of Anderson in theLibrary of Congress

Anderson performed in New York during the 1970s. One of her most-cited performances,Duets on Ice,which she conducted in New York and other cities around the world, involved her playing the violin along with a recording while wearing ice skates with the blades frozen into a block of ice; the performance ended only when the ice had melted away. Two early pieces, "New York Social Life" and "Time to Go", are included in the 1977 compilationNew Music for Electronic and Recorded Media,along with works byPauline Oliverosand others.Two other pieces were included onAirwaves,a collection of audio pieces by various artists. She also recorded a lecture forVision,a set of artist's lectures released byCrown Point Pressas a set of six LPs.

Many of Anderson's earliest recordings remain unreleased or were issued only in limited quantities, such as her first single, "It's Not the Bullet that Kills You (It's the Hole)". That song, along with "New York Social Life" and about a dozen others, was originally recorded for use in an art installation that consisted of ajukeboxthat played the different Anderson compositions, at theHolly Solomon Galleryin New York City. Among the musicians on these early recordings arePeter Gordonon saxophone,Scott Johnsonon guitar, Ken Deifik on harmonica, and Joe Kos on drums. Photographs and descriptions of many of these early performances were included in Anderson's retrospective bookStories from the Nerve Bible.

During the late 1970s, Anderson made a number of additional recordings that were either released privately or included on compilations of avant-garde music, most notably releases by theGiorno Poetry Systemslabel run by New York poetJohn Giorno,an early intimate ofAndy Warhol.In 1978, she performed at the Nova Convention, a major conference involving many counter-culture figures and rising avant-garde musical stars, includingWilliam S. Burroughs,Philip Glass,Frank Zappa,Timothy Leary,Malcolm Goldstein,John Cage,andAllen Ginsberg.She also worked with comedianAndy Kaufmanin the late 1970s.

1980s

In 1980, Anderson was awarded an honorary doctorate from theSan Francisco Art Institute.In 1982, she was awarded aGuggenheim Fellowshipfor Creative Arts—Film.In 1987, Anderson was awarded an honorary doctorate in the fine arts from theUniversity of the Artsin Philadelphia.

Anderson became widely known outside the art world in 1981 with the single "O Superman",originally released in a limited quantity byB. George's One Ten Records, which ultimately reached number two on the British charts.The sudden influx of orders from the UK (prompted partly by British stationBBC Radio 1playlisting the record) led to Anderson signing a seven-album deal withWarner Bros. Records,which re-released the single.

"O Superman" was part of a larger stage work titledUnited Statesand was included on the albumBig Science.Prior to the release ofBig Science,Anderson returned toGiorno Poetry Systemsto record the albumYou're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With;Anderson recorded one side of the double-LP set, with William S. Burroughs andJohn Giornorecording a side each, and the fourth side featured a separate groove for each artist. This was followed by the back-to-back releases of her albumsMister HeartbreakandUnited States Live,the latter of which was a five-LP (and, later, four-CD) recording of her two-evening stage show at theBrooklyn Academy of Music.She also appeared in a television special produced byNam June Paikbroadcast on New Year's Day 1984, titled "Good Morning, Mr. Orwell".

Anderson atDe VereeniginginNijmegen,1986

She next starred in and directed the 1986 concert filmHome of the Braveand also composed the soundtracks for theSpalding GrayfilmsSwimming to CambodiaandMonster in a Box.During this time, she also contributed music toRobert Wilson'sAlcestisat theAmerican Repertory Theaterin Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also hosted thePBSseriesAlive from Off Centerduring 1987, after having produced the short filmWhat You Mean We?for the series the year before.What You Mean We?introduced a new character played by Anderson: "The Clone", a digitally altered masculine counterpart to Anderson who later "co-hosted" with her when she did her presenting stint onAlive from Off Center.Elements of The Clone were later incorporated into the titular "puppet" of her later work,Puppet Motel.In that year, she also appeared onPeter Gabriel's albumSo,co-writing and performing on the song "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)". (A version of “Excellent Birds” was also released on Mister Heartbreak.)

Release of Anderson's first post-Home of the Bravealbum, 1989'sStrange Angels,was delayed for more than a year in order for Anderson to take singing lessons. This was due to the album being more musically inclined (in terms of singing) than her previous works.The single "Babydoll" was a moderate hit on the Modern Rock Charts in 1989.

1990s

In 1991, she was a member of the jury at the41st Berlin International Film Festival.In the same year, Anderson appeared inThe Human Face,a feature arts documentary directed by artist-filmmakersNichola Bruceand Michael Coulson for BBC television. Anderson was the presenter in this documentary on the history of the face in art and science. Her face was transformed using latex masks and digital special effects as she introduced ideas about the relationship betweenphysiognomyand perception. Her varied career in the early 1990s included voice-acting in the animated filmThe Rugrats Movie.In 1994, she created aCD-ROMtitledPuppet Motel,which was followed byBright Red,co-produced byBrian Eno,and another spoken-word album,The Ugly One with the Jewels.This was followed by an appearance on the 1997 charity single "Perfect Day".

In 1996, Anderson performed with Diego Frenkel (La Portuária) andAterciopeladosfor the AIDS benefit albumSilencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latinproduced by theRed Hot Organization.

An interval of more than half a decade followed before her next album release. During this time, she wrote a supplemental article on the cultural character of New York City for theEncyclopædia Britannicaand created multimedia presentations, including one inspired byMoby-Dick(Songs and Stories from Moby Dick,1999–2000).One of the central themes in Anderson's work is exploring the effects of technology on human relationships and communication.

Starting in the 1990s, Anderson andLou Reed,whom she had met in 1992, collaborated on recordings together.Reed contributed to the tracks "In Our Sleep" from Anderson'sBright Red,"One Beautiful Evening" from Anderson'sLife on a String,and "My Right Eye" and "Only an Expert" from Anderson'sHomeland,which Reed also co-produced. Anderson contributed to the tracks "Call on Me" from Reed's collaborative projectThe Raven,"Rouge" and "Rock Minuet" from Reed'sEcstasy,and "Hang On to Your Emotions" from Reed'sSet the Twilight Reeling.

In late 1998, Artist Space, New York presented an exhibit of Anderson’s work from 1970s to 1980s, along with her 1990s work,Whirlwind.

2000s

Anderson at a 2007 benefit concert

Life on a Stringappeared in 2001, by which time she signed a new contract with another Warner Music label,Nonesuch Records.Life on a Stringwas a mixture of new works (including one song recalling the death of her father) and works from theMoby Dickpresentation.In 2001, she recorded the audiobook version ofDon DeLillo's novelThe Body Artist.Anderson went on tour performing a selection of her best-known musical pieces in 2001. One of these performances was recorded in New York City a week after theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks,and included a performance of "O Superman". This concert was released in early 2002 as the double CDLive in New York.

In 2003, Anderson produced albums with French musicians La Jarry andHector Zazouand also performed with them. Zazou's albumStrong Currents(2003), which brought together well-known soloists, features her alongsideMelanie Gabriel,Irene GrandiandJane Birkin,among others. She becameNASA's firstartist-in-residencein the same year, which inspired her performance pieceThe End of the Moon.In May 2004, she received an honarary doctorate from Columbia University.She was part of the team that created the opening ceremony for the2004 Olympic Gamesin Athens and collaborated with choreographerTrisha Brownand filmmakerAgnieszka Wojtowicz-Voslooon the multimedia projectO Zlozony/O Compositefor theParis Opera Balletwhich premiered at theOpera Garnierin Paris in December 2004. She mounted a succession of themed shows and composed a piece forExpo 2005in Japan. In 2005, Anderson visited Russia's space program—the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre and mission control—withThe Arts Catalystand took part in The Arts Catalyst's Space Soon event at the Roundhouse to reflect on her experiences.

Anderson performingHomelandin 2007

In 2005, her exhibitionThe Waters Reglitterizedopened at theSean Kelly Galleryin New York City. According to the press release by Sean Kelly,the work is a diary of dreams and their literal recreation as works of art. This work uses the language of dreams to investigate the dream itself. The resulting pieces include drawings, prints, and high-definition video. The installation ran until October 22, 2005.

In 2006, Anderson was awarded aResidencyat theAmerican Academy in Rome.She narratedRic Burns'Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film,which was first televised in September 2006 as part of the PBSAmerican Mastersseries. She contributed a song toPlague Songs,a collection of songs related to the 10 Biblical plagues. Anderson also performed inCame So Far for Beauty,the Leonard Cohen tribute event held in the Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, on October 4–5, 2006. In November 2006, she published a book of drawings based on her dreams, titledNight Life.

Material fromHomelandwas performed at small work-in-progress shows in New York throughout May 2007 supported by a four-piece band with lighting and video visuals mixed live byWillie WilliamsandMark Coniglio,respectively. A European tour of theHomelandwork in progress included performances on September 28–29, 2007, at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin; on October 17–19 at the Melbourne International Arts Festival; and in Russia at the Moscow Dom Muzyky concert hall on April 26, 2008. The work was performed in Toronto, Canada, on June 14, 2008, with husbandLou Reed,making the "Lost Art of Conversation" a duet with vocals and guitar. Anderson'sHomeland Tourperformed at several locations across the United States as well, such as at theFerst Center for the Arts,Atlanta, Georgia; TheLincoln Center for the Performing Arts,New York City; andHarris Theaterfor Music and Dance inMillennium Park,Chicago, Illinois, co-presented by theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

2010s

In 2015 withKronos Quartet,after performingLandfallinChicago'sHarris Theater

In February 2010, Anderson premiered a new theatrical work, titledDelusion,at theVancouver 2010 Olympic Games.This piece was commissioned by the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad and the Barbican Centre, London.Anderson was honored with theWomen's Project TheaterWoman of Achievement Award in March 2010. In May/June 2010, Anderson curated theVivid Livefestival inSydney,Australia, together with Lou Reed.Her new albumHomelandwas released on June 22. She performed "Only an Expert" on July 15, 2010, on theLate Show with David Letterman,and her song "Gravity's Angel" was featured on the Fox TV showSo You Think You Can Dancethe same day. She appears as a guest musician on several tracks from experimental jazz musicianColin Stetson's 2011 albumNew History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges.

Anderson developed a theatrical work titled "Another Day in America". The first public showings of this work-in-progress took place in Calgary, Alberta, in January 2012 as part of Theatre Junction Grand's 2011–12 season andOne Yellow Rabbit's annual arts festival, the High Performance Rodeo.Anderson was named the Inaugural Distinguished Artist-In-Residence at theExperimental Media and Performing Arts Center(EMPAC) at theRensselaer Polytechnic InstituteinTroy, New York,in May 2012.In March 2013, an exhibition of Anderson's work entitledLaurie Anderson: Language of the Future, selected works 1971-2013at theSamstag Museumwas part of theAdelaide Festival of the Artsin Adelaide, South Australia. Anderson performed herDuets on Iceoutside the Samstag on opening night.

Anderson received the Honorary Doctor of Arts from theAalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecturein 2013.In June/July 2013, Anderson performed "The Language of the Future" and guest curated atthe River to River Festivalin New York City.In November 2013, she was the featured Guest of Honor at the B3Biennaleof the Moving Image inFrankfurt,Germany.In 2018, Anderson contributed vocals to a re-recording of theDavid Bowiesong "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)", originally from Bowie's 1987 albumNever Let Me Down.She was asked to join the production by producerMario J. McNulty,who knew that Anderson and Bowie had been friends.

On February 10, 2019, at the61st Annual Grammy Awards,held in Los Angeles, Anderson and Kronos Quartet'sLandfallwon theGrammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.It was Anderson's first collaboration with Kronos Quartet and her first Grammy award, and was the second Grammy for Kronos. Inspired by her experience ofHurricane Sandy,Nonesuch Recordssaid, "Landfalljuxtaposes lush electronics and traditional strings by Kronos with Anderson's powerful descriptions of loss, from water-logged pianos to disappearing animal species to Dutch karaoke bars. "

Anderson playing outside at aTimes Squareperformance in 2016

Chalkroomis a virtual reality work by Anderson and Taiwanese artist Hsin-Chien Huang in which the reader flies through an enormous structure made of words, drawings, and stories.To the Moon,a collaboration withHsin-Chien Huang,premiered at theManchester International Festivalon July 12, 2019. A 15-minutevirtual realityartwork,To the Moonallows audience members to explore a moon that features donkey rides and rubbish from Earth in a non-narrative structure.Alongside, a film shows the development of the new work.

2020s

Anderson performing withDoug Wieselmanat theHirshhorn Museumin 2023

Anderson was appointed the 2021Charles Eliot Norton Professor of PoetryatHarvard Universityand presented a series ofsix lecturestitledSpending the War Without You: Virtual Backgroundsover two semesters.

In 2021, Anderson created a show on the second floor of theHirshhorn Museumin Washington, D.C., titled "The Weather" and described byThe New York Timesas "a sort of nonretrospective retrospective of one of America's major, and majorly confounding, modern artists".

In mid-2023, Laurie Anderson created "Looking into a Mirror Sideways", an exhibit that highlights various different styles of her art techniques.It opened at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden. Since opening, this artwork has been Anderson’s biggest solo show in Europe.

While in Europe, Anderson teamed up withSexmob,a New York jazz band. Sexmob and Anderson toured Europe where they performed multiple versions of her songs, but adding a twist to them all. This tour was seen as "an attempt at defying gravity, resisting the pull, [and] reverting the downward fall".

In 2024, Anderson withdrew from a guest professorship at theFolkwang University of the ArtsinEssen,after university officials objected to her support of a "Letter Against Apartheid" organised by Palestinian artists, calling for "an immediate and unconditional cessation ofIsraeli violence against Palestinians".

Inventions

Anderson has invented severalexperimental musical instrumentsthat she has used in her recordings and performances. In 1977, she created a tape-bow violin that uses recordedmagnetic tapeon thebowinstead of horsehair and a magnetictape headin the bridge.In the late 1990s, she collaborated withInterval Researchto develop an instrument she called a "talking stick", a six-foot-long (1.8 m) baton-likeMIDIcontroller that can access and replicate sounds.

Tape-bow violin

The tape-bow violin is an instrument created by Laurie Anderson in 1977. It uses recorded magnetic tape in place of the traditional horsehair in the bow, and a magnetic tape head in the bridge. Anderson has updated and modified this device over the years. She can be seen using a later generation of this device in her filmHome of the Braveduring theLate Showsegment in which she manipulates a sentence recorded byWilliam S. Burroughs.This version of the violin usedMIDI-basedaudio samples, triggered by contact with the bow.

Talking stick

The talking stick is a six-foot-long baton-likeMIDIcontroller. It was used in theMoby-Dicktour in 1999–2000. She described it in program notes as follows:

The Talking Stick is a new instrument that I designed in collaboration with a team fromInterval ResearchandBob Bielecki.It is a wireless instrument that can access and replicate any sound. It works on the principle ofgranular synthesis.This is the technique of breaking sound into tiny segments, called grains, and then playing them back in different ways. The computer rearranges the sound fragments into continuous strings or random clusters that are played back in overlapping sequences to create new textures. The grains are very short, a few hundredths of a second. Granular synthesis can sound smooth or choppy depending on the size of the grain and the rate at which they're played. The grains are like film frames. If you slow them down enough, you begin to hear them separately.

Voice filters

A recurring motif in Anderson's work is the use of an electric pitch-shifting voice filter that deepens her voice into amasculineregister, a technique that Anderson has referred to as "audiodrag".Anderson has long used the resulting character in her work as a "voice ofauthority"orconscience,although she later decided that the voice had lost much of its authority and instead began using the voice to provide historical or sociopolitical commentary,as it is used on "Another Day in America", a piece from her 2010 albumHomeland.

For much of Anderson's career, the voice was nameless or called the Voice of Authority, although as early as 2009it was dubbed Fenway Bergamot at Lou Reed's suggestion.The cover ofHomelanddepicts Anderson in character as Bergamot, with streaks of black makeup to give her a moustache and thick, masculine eyebrows.

In "The Cultural Ambassador", a piece on her albumThe Ugly One with the Jewels,Anderson explained some of her perspective on the character:

(Anderson:) I was carrying a lot of electronics so I had to keep unpacking everything and plugging it in and demonstrating how it all worked, and I guess I did seem a little fishy—a lot of this stuff wakes up displaying LED program readouts that have names like Atom Smasher, and so it took a while to convince them that they weren't some kind of portable espionage system. So I've done quite a few of these sort of impromptu new music concerts for small groups of detectives and customs agents and I'd have to keep setting all this stuff up and they'd listen for a while and they'd say: So um, what's this? And I'd pull out something like
(Bergamot:) this filter, and say, now this is what I like to think of as the voice of authority. And it would take me a while to tell them how I used it for songs that were, you know, about various forms of control, and they would say, now why would you want to talk like that? And I'd look around at theSWATteams, and the undercover agents, and the dogs, and the radio in the corner, tuned to the Super Bowl coverage of thewar.And I'd say, take a wild guess.

Personal life

She moved to New York in 1966 and now lives inTribeca.Anderson met singer-songwriterLou Reedin 1992, and she was married to him from April 2008 until his death in 2013.

Anderson is a long-time student ofBuddhismandmeditation.She first learned meditation on a retreat with theInsight Meditation Societyin 1977.She has since become a student ofTibetan BuddhistteacherMingyur Rinpoche.

Discography

Studio albums

Album and details	Peak positions
	US	AUS	CH	DE	GR	NL	NZ	SE	UK	CAN
Big Science Date released: 1982 Record label: Warner Bros.	124	–	–	–	–	–	8	–	29	–
Mister Heartbreak Date released: 1984 Record label: Warner Bros.	60	–	19	–	–	23	12	46	93	41
Home of the Brave Date released: 1986 Record label: Warner Bros.	145	74	–	–	–	–	14	34	–	84
Strange Angels Date released: 1989 Record label: Warner Bros.	171	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Bright Red Date released: 1994 Record label: Warner Bros.	195	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Life on a String Date released: 2001 Record label: Nonesuch Records	–	–	–	84	–	–	–	–	–	–
Homeland Date released: 2010 Record label: Nonesuch Records	–	–	–	62	41	–	–	–	–	–
Amelia Date released: 2024 Record label: Nonesuch Records	–	–	41	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Spoken word albums

• The Ugly One with the Jewels(1995)
• Heart of a Dog(Soundtrack) (2015)

Live albums

• United States Live(boxed set) (1984) US No. 192
• Live in New York(2002)

Compilation albums

• Talk Normal: The Laurie Anderson Anthology(2000)

Audio book

• The Body ArtistbyDon DeLillo(2001)

Collaborations

• Airwaves(1977 ~One Ten Records); various artists compilation including three tracks by Anderson
• You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money WithwithWilliam S. BurroughsandJohn Giorno(1981 ~Giorno Poetry Systems)
• "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)" withPeter Gabriel(1986,So~Geffen/Charisma)
• "Design For Living", withNona Hendryx(1983),Nona,also withGina SchockofThe Go-Go's,Valerie SimpsonofAshford & Simpson,Tina WeymouthofTom Tom ClubandTalking Heads,Nancy WilsonofHeart,and former bandmatePatti LaBelle
• "Diva" fromZoolookbyJean Michel Jarre(1984 ~Disques Dreyfus)
• "Speak My Language" (1993;Faraway, So Close!Soundtrack ~SBK Records / ERG)
• A Chance Operation: The John Cage Tributewith text byJohn Cage(1993 ~Koch International Classics)
• "Enquanto Isso" withMarisa Monte(1994,Verde, anil, amarelo, cor de rosa e carvão~EMI-Odeon) (1994,Rose and Charcoal~Blue Note Records)
• "Una hoja, una raiz (One Leaf, One Root)" with Diego Frenkel (La Portuária) andAterciopelados(1996,Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin~ H.O.L.A Records)
• "Je me souviens" byJean Michel Jarre(2000,Métamorphoses~Sony Music)
• "Gentle Breeze" withLou Reed(2004,Mary Had a Little Amp– a preschool education benefit CD ~Epic)
• "The Fifth Plague (the Death of Livestock)" (2006,Plague Songs~ 4AD)
• The Stone: Issue ThreewithJohn ZornandLou Reed(2008 ~Tzadik)
• "The Electrician" (2009,Music Inspired by the Film Scott Walker: 30 Century Man~Lakeshore Records)
• FeminabyJohn Zorn(2009 ~Tzadik)
• New History Warfare Vol. 2: JudgesbyColin Stetson(2011 ~Constellation)
• "Rely on Me" withJean Michel Jarre(2015,Electronica 1: The Time Machine~Columbia)
• Landfall(2018) (withKronos Quartet) (BE #146, NL #186, PT #36)
• Songs from theBardo(2019) (withTenzin ChoegyalandJesse Paris Smith)

Singles

• "O Superman"(1981) No. 28 AUS;No. 2UK;BE (Vl) No. 19; IRL No. 11; NL No. 10; NZ No. 21
• "Big Science" (1981)
• "Sharkey's Day" (1984)
• "Language Is a Virus" (1986) No. 96 AUS;
• "Strange Angels" (1989)
• "Babydoll" (1989) No. 7 US Modern Rock
• "Beautiful Red Dress" (1990)
• "In Our Sleep" (1994)
• "Big Science 2" (2007)
• "Mambo and Bling" (2008)
• "Only an Expert" (2010)

The single "Sharkey's Day" was for many years the theme song ofLifetime Television.Anderson also recorded a number of limited-release singles in the late 1970s (many issued from theHolly Soloman Gallery), songs from which were included on a number of compilations, includingGiorno Poetry Systems'The Nova ConventionandYou're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With.Over the years she has performed on recordings by other musicians such asPeter Gabriel,Lou Reed,andJean Michel Jarre.She also contributed lyrics to thePhilip GlassalbumSongs from Liquid Days,and contributed a spoken-word piece to a tribute album in honor ofJohn Cage.

Music videos

Anderson at a 2012 show

Formal music videos have been produced for:

• "O Superman"
• "Sharkey's Day"
• "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)"
• "Language Is a Virus" (fromHome of the Brave)
• "Beautiful Red Dress"

In addition, in lieu of making another music video for herStrange Angelsalbum, Anderson taped a series of one- to two-minute "Personal Service Announcements" in which she spoke about issues such as the U.S.national debtand the arts scene. Some of the music used in these productions came from her soundtrack ofSwimming to Cambodia.The PSAs were frequently shown between music videos on VH-1 in early 1990.

Films

• Dearreader: How to Turn a Book Into a Movie– 1974
• Closed Circuit– 1983
• Home of the Brave: A Film by Laurie Anderson– 1986
• What You Mean We?– 1987
• Hotel Deutschland– 1992
• The Rugrats Movie– 1998 (as a character voice)
• Laurie Anderson: On Performance: ART/new york No. 54– 2001
• Life on a String– 2002
• Hidden Inside Mountains– 2006
• Heart of a Dog– (2015)
• Feminists: What Were They Thinking?– (2018)
• Sisters with Transistors– (2020) - narrator

Digital media

• Puppet Motel(MacintoshCD-ROM,1995) - collaboration withHsin-Chien Huang.

Legacy

In 2013, Dale Eisinger ofComplexrankedUnited Statesas the third greatest work of performance art ever, with the writer arguing that Anderson is "able to ascertain just exactly the climate of life in the United States, without being so punctuated that it causes a standoff. Perhaps the zenith of this configuration was her multimedia performance, 'United States I – IV.' [...] [Anderson displays] her vast, incisive range of talents on the 'United States Live' recordings."

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Nominee(s)	Category	Result	Ref.
Adelaide Film Festival	2015	Heart of a Dog	Best Documentary	Won
Chicago International Film Festival	2015			Won
Cinema Eye Honors Awards	2016		Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score	Won
			Outstanding Achievement in Direction	Nominated
			Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation	Nominated
Deutsche Schallplatten Prize	2001	Life on a String	Deutsche Schallplatten Prize	Won
Film Independent Spirit Awards	2016	Heart of a Dog	Best Documentary Feature	Nominated
Edison Awards	1983	Big Science	Extra International	Won
Grammy Awards	1985	"Gravity's Angel"	Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)	Nominated
	1991	Strange Angels	Best Alternative Music Performance	Nominated
	2011	"Flow"	Best Pop Instrumental Performance	Nominated
	2019	"Landfall"	Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance	Won
	2021	Songs from the Bardo	Best New Age Album	Nominated
	2024	Words & Music, May 1965 – Deluxe Edition	Best Historical Album	Nominated
Gotham Awards	2015	Heart of a Dog	Best Documentary	Nominated
			Audience Award	Nominated
La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival	2015		Prix Nouvelles Vagues Acuitis	Nominated
Locarno International Film Festival	2005	Hidden Inside Mountains	Golden Leopard - Video	Nominated
	2015	Herself	Lifetime Achievement Award	Won
	2022	Herself	Vision Award Ticinomoda	Won
Charles Eliot Norton Lectures	2021–2022	Herself	Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry at Harvard University	awarded
Tenco Prize	2001	Herself	Tenco Prize for Songwriting	Won
Tribeca Film Festival	2006	Hidden Inside Mountains	Best Narrative Short	Nominated
Tromsø International Film Festival	2016	Heart of a Dog	Aurora Award	Won
Venice Film Festival	2015		Lina Mangiacapre Award	Won
			Golden Lion	Nominated
			Green Drop Award	Nominated
Wolf Prize	2017	Herself	Award for Art	Won

Television

• Bei Bio– musical guest on German TV show, 1984
• The New Show– musical guest, 1984
• Saturday Night Live– musical guest, 1986
• Alive from Off Center– host, 1987
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast– guest 1996
• Late Show with David Letterman– guest 2010

Audiobooks

• The Path to TranquilitybyHis Holiness the Dalai Lama– co-narrator, 1999
• The Body ArtistbyDon DeLillo– sole narrator, 2001
• Nothing in My Pockets– two-part sound diary recorded in 2003, orig. 2006 French radio broadcast, booklet with text and photography (Dis Voir, 2009)ISBN978-2-914563-43-7(also published in French)

Bibliography

• United States(HarperCollins,1984)ISBN0-06-091110-7
• Empty Places (A Performance)(Harper Perennial, 1991)ISBN978-0-06-096586-0
• Stories from the Nerve Bible: A Twenty-Year Retrospective(HarperCollins,1994)ISBN0-06-055355-3
• Dal vivo(Fondazione Prada, 1999)ISBN88-87029-10-5
• Night Life(Edition 7L, 2007)ISBN3-86521-339-1
• All the Things I Lost in the Flood(Rizzoli Electa, 2018)ISBN0-8478-6055-8

Further reading

• Golden, Barbara. "Conversation with Laurie Anderson".eContact! 12.2 – Interviews (2)(April 2010). Montréal:CEC.
• Mutant, Mite. "Talking with Laurie Anderson".Mutant Renegade Zine#7, June 1996.
• Nicom, John. "Homeland insecurity: Laurie Anderson takes uncompromising look at how America has changed".LJWorld.September 12, 2008.
• "Laurie Anderson".Music Technology.Vol. 1, no. 9. July 1987. p. 75.ISSN0957-6606.OCLC24835173.

External links

• Official website
• Laurie AndersonatIMDb
• "Talk Normal: The Laurie Anderson Anthology (Liner Notes)".Archived fromthe originalon January 11, 2001.
• Some Notes on Seeing: The Waters ReglitterizedBy Laurie Anderson for exhibition 2005
• "Eclectic Laurie Anderson visits Ames".Archived fromthe originalon August 18, 2003.
• "NASA Art Program".Archived fromthe originalon December 1, 1998.
• Guardian interview.
• A Life of Storytelling. An interview with Laurie Anderson, 2016Video byLouisiana Channel
• SoundCloud - Hear the world's soundswith Georgina Godwin
• Advice to Young Artists. An interview with Laurie Anderson, 2016Video byLouisiana Channel
• Laurie Anderson on Self-Playing Violin, MoMA Audio
• A Trip to the Moon. An interview with Laurie Anderson & Hsin-Chien Huang, 2018Video byLouisiana Channel
• 60 Minutesprofile,April 3, 2022
• WTF with Marc Maron,March 20, 2023