Laurie Anderson Talks How Artists Respond to Tragedy in New Paris RBMA Lecture [WATCH]

Influential artist Laurie Anderson recently gave a lecture at the Red Bull Music Academy in Paris to discuss how artists respond to tragedy. Anderson is, of course, renowned for masterpieces that fuse experimental electronic music with high-brow performance art, including the minimalist "O Superman" – which topped international charts as a single in the '80s and is on permanent display in the MOMA as an audiovisual work.

You can watch the entire lecture in which Anderson discusses artists' responses to tragedy below.

The artist's talk was recorded on Nov. 16, just three days after the Paris attacks, so the topic of tragedy was timely to say the least.

As Thump reports, she opened her lecture by discussing her 2015 work Habeus Corpus, which was on display at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC for three days earlier this Fall. In Habeus Corpus, the artist explores the themes of terrorism and fear, specifically in terms of Guantanamo detainees whose rights were waived as they were treated as non-humans.

The New Yorker reports that the installation drew the uneasy comparison between Guantanamo and New York in order to "draw a line between the fear of evil and the evil that fear can create." In her Red Bull Music Academy lecture, Anderson connects these ideas to the current political moment in the wake of the recent tragedies in Paris and beyond.

It is worth noting that the Red Bull Music Academy had suspended their Paris proceedings and postponed the second session immediately following the events on Nov. 13. Some artists that were scheduled to lecture, however, felt it imperative to hold their talks as planned in spite of the circumstances. In addition to Anderson, Teki Latex and Jean-Michel Jarre are among the artists who, as RBMA explains, "felt it was an important moment to talk about how art and artists respond to tragedy."

In Habeus Corpus, the artist revisited her classic "O Superman" with perhaps a more chilling effect than in past reprises of the piece, especially in the lyrics: "Here come the planes / they're American planes made in America" and "When love is gone, there's always justice / And when justice is gone, there's always force."

Watch the video for the track as displayed at the MOMA below.

Tags

Laurie Anderson, Red Bull Music Academy, Paris, Tragedy