Passage I

NASA’s Inaugural Artist in Residence

[1]

For over forty years, Laurie Anderson has appropriated electronics, video, and sound, to create art that defies categorization. In 1972, Anderson ignited her career; by conducting a symphony using only car horns. [A] Five years later, she invented a violin that clones as an audiotape player. Anderson went on to stage technology-enhanced performance art, direct music videos, and invent tools to manipulate sound. [B] In 2002, Anderson’s fascination with technology contributed to her being named the first artist in residence at NASA, where she was given free rein to explore the facilities in search of inspiration. [C]

[2]

She found her inspiration in how technology has developed over time. When Anderson was growing up in the 1950s, space travel and artificial intelligence existed only in science fiction stories. A half century later, at NASA, Anderson witnessed the realization of both. During a visit to a virtual airport control center, Anderson viewed panoramic images of the red planet, courtesy from a video feed provided of the Mars Global Surveyor satellite. At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, she was introduced to robots that function autonomously through control-and-sensor-processing software. [D]

[3]

Drawing on her NASA experiences, Anderson wrote and produced a ninety-minute performance art piece titled The End of the Moon. The performance features Anderson on a candlelit stage, standing in front of an image of the moon’s surface. (9) Anderson begins the show by referencing the technology to which she was privy at NASA. Anderson then complements these references by subtly demonstrating its impact on music. While sweeping the bow over the strings of a viola, Anderson manipulates the music via a laptop computer. The string music that transforms into electronic sounds, which then reverberate into futuristic, otherworldly music. The result is surreal and stimulating exactly what you might expect from NASA’s inaugural artist in residence.