Pioneering artist Laurie Anderson takes the reader through her most important work of the last five decades, revealing her boundless creativity and deft storytelling.

Sometime before the pandemic, Anderson—a legendary figure in the worlds of art, performance, and music—was in the midst of preparing for two monumental survey exhibitions. Prompted by those tours de force, Anderson gathers in this volume the most important work of her career, including new groundbreaking work that few have seen. Spanning a half century, Anderson writes about the ideas that have guided her work across media. 

Packaged in a compact paper slipcase, the jacketed flexibound volume features monumental new works alongside significant historical pieces and betrays Anderson as the original multihyphenate artist. From music, video, and performance to room-size installations, sculpture, and painting, she moves easily between traditional and digital techniques and, in the last fifteen years, VR and AI technology. From immersive installations to technological marvels like the tape-bow violin, Anderson’s work seamlessly merges innovation with a profound sense of lightness, humor, and humanity. 

Central to Anderson’s artistic imagination is her compelling storytelling. This book, presented entirely in the artist’s own words, provides a personal exploration of her work, unveiling how she uses technology and narrative to reflect, decipher, and comment on the roles of technology, language, and politics in American culture.

About The Author

Laurie Anderson is a multimedia artist, Grammy Award–winning musician (with more than seven albums), and filmmaker. She has exhibited widely around the world, including at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Musée d’art contemporain, Lyon; Fondazione Tramontano Arte, Naples; Park Avenue Armory, New York; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA.