United States

by ANDERSON, LAURIE

Price: $35.00
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New York: Harper & Row. Very Good. 1984. Soft Cover. 0060911107 . 231 pages, well illustrated, pictorial wrappers, oblong, 11 by 8-1/2 inches. Companion book to Anderson's landmark 8-hour performance art piece. From the PBS website Art in the 21st century: 'Laurie Anderson began composing United States in 1979, nearly four years before its debut performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. An eight hour production in four parts - Transportation, Politics, Money, and Love - the work is modeled after the structure of a classical opera. The portrait of a technological society and its people, Anderson's "talking opera" portrays a subject which is constantly changing or on the move. Featured in the work are the themes of driving and flying cross-country. Lush with geographical references and imagery, Anderson's song and stories were complimented by a complex, multimedia stage production consisting of thousands of slides and film clips. Projected over and behind the performers were, among other things, images of maps, wild animals, astronauts, and electrical equipment. Anderson even devised a makeshift hologram, created by rapidly waving a violin bow in the light cast by a slide projector. Pairing violin and voice with electronic synthesizers and techno-pop drum beats, the sound of the opera matches Anderson's handling of images and subject matter. Dreams, Bible stories and images of nature are complimented by radio dials, airports, and outerspace. In a striking image, performers held violins in front of their faces producing large, alien-like shadows on a translucent screen. Playful and sharp-witted, Anderson's United States combines familiar objects, images, and situations to produce an uncanny, evocative performance.' .

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