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Published on 7/25/08
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Laurie Anderson’s strange career has taken her from unlikely pop stardom (her eight-minute, hookless single from 1981, “O Superman,” made it to No. 2 on England’s rock chart) to becoming an artist-in-residence at NASA (the organization’s first and last, she says, after a nosy congressman suggested a budget cut). In spite of the accolades, the Glen Ellyn native sees herself as a simple storyteller, content in the New York avant-garde art and music scenes making politically charged works such as 1983’s eight-hour multimedia slice-of-American-life United States I–IV and her most recent performance piece, Homeland, a commentary on post–September 11 obsessions like security.
Time Out Chicago: What have the reactions been to Homeland?
Laurie Anderson: I did this show in Boston a couple nights ago, and some people were really offended. I didn’t think they’d leave in a huff. Art isn’t the greatest way to do politics.
TOC: But you are still doing politics.
Laurie Anderson: There’s so much happening now; I can’t edit it out. Now that so much journalism is entertainment, I think entertainers can start doing journalism. Why not?
TOC: Is there someone who you think combines art and politics well?
Laurie Anderson: Bob Dylan. He made it okay to be a loser. That was a deeply political way to look at things: Songs don’t have to be about winning; they can be about what it feels like to lose.
Anderson performs Wednesday 16.
