The Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts has announced that performance artist Laurie Anderson, one of America’s most renowned-and daring-creative pioneers, will be a Visiting Artist in Fall 2009. Anderson will meet with ITP students as well as participate in a series of conversations throughout the academic year.
ITP is an internationally known graduate program where students from diverse backgrounds work across disciplines in design and new interactive art forms. The Visiting Artist Residency will offer Anderson, herself a pioneering artist in multimedia and performance art, the chance to share ideas with ITP faculty and students, and for them to in turn be inspired by her creative process. “Laurie Anderson will bring an extraordinary new dimension to the ITP creative community — we feel very fortunate to have her here” said ITP Tokyo Broadcasting System Chair Red Burns.
“Usually I’m something of a hermit, but right now I’m working on a few projects that are perfect for the workshop situation in the Interactive Telecommunications Program,” said Anderson. “Tossing ideas around and trying out new techniques are the greatest fun and I’m looking forward to doing things with the students and faculty of ITP.”
Anderson is best known for her multimedia presentations and innovative use of technology. As writer, director, visual artist, and vocalist, she has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater, and experimental music.
Her recording career, launched by O Superman in 1981, includes the soundtrack to her feature film Home of the Brave and the recorded release Life on a String (2001). Anderson’s live shows range from simple spoken word to elaborate multi-media stage performances such as Songs and Stories for Moby Dick (1999). Anderson has published seven books and her visual work has been presented in major museums around the world.
In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA which culminated in her touring solo performance The End of the Moon. Recent projects include a series of audio-visual installations and a high definition film, Hidden Inside Mountains, created for World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. In 2007 she received the prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for her outstanding contribution to the arts. She recently completed a two-year worldwide tour of her latest performance piece, Homeland, which will be released on Nonesuch Records this year.
An oversized Greenwich Village loft houses the computer labs, rotating exhibitions, and production workshops that are ITP-the Interactive Telecommunications Program. Founded in 1979 as the first graduate educational program in new media, ITP has grown into a living community of technologists, theorists, engineers, designers, and artists uniquely dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactivity in the real and digital worlds. A hands-on approach to experimentation, production, and risk-taking make this hi-tech fun house a creative home not only to its 230 students, but also to an extended network of the technology industry’s most daring and prolific practitioners.