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January
30, 2005 Questions
for Laurie Anderson and
Ricky Seabra
Post-Lunarism
vs. Laurie:
No. Although I could definitely imagine myself floating in space,
I didn't want to become an astronaut. Driving those golf carts around
on the moon seems a little geeky. Also, astronauts are constantly
busy, and I didn't want to have that much to do. Ricky:
I never really imagined myself as an astronaut per se, just working
in space. I thought that by the time I was a grown-up I'd be going
to or working in space regularly;
designing space stations, giant solar panels the size of cities
that would beam clean energy down to earth. I grew up watching Space
1999, Lost in Space, and 2001. Space for all was supposed to be happening
by now. Most
other people see astronauts as figures of smoldering romance who rank
right up there with cowboys and other American pioneers. Did you get
to spend any time with astronauts? Laurie:
I met many astronauts, and they seem so out of place. They were given
jobs around mission control, but they were living to be in space,
and all their conversations were about the next time maybe they were
going to go. Ricky: I've
lunched with a few astronauts. I found the Russian cosmonauts surprisingly
soft spoken. I find it hard paying attention to them because I'm always
too mind-boggled that their flesh, their body parts, hands, head,
have all been in space. I don't romanticize them but there is one
cosmonaut with whom I would like to get romantic. Since
you don't identify with astronauts, what moved you to spend time in
space agencies? Laurie:
I like the scale of space. I like thinking about human beings and
what worms we are. We are really worms and specks. I find a certain
comfort in that. Ricky:
Worms? Come on Laurie, I think we are quite more fascinating than
that. Scale means nothing to the human mind. We can embrace the universe
and even build computer models of it. Hardly worm-like behavior. We
are the size of our minds. I take comfort in that. Laurie,
you were NASA's first artist-in-residence and perhaps its last. Ricky:
Last? How defeatist! The space age has only just begun. OK. So we
got Republicans in power and a space shuttle blew up. That does make
things difficult for space exploration. Laurie:
I think there is a lot of animosity between Congress and NASA right
now. I heard that someone in Congress was looking through the budget
and the artist-in-residence program got scratched out. Ricky:
But only for the time being. There are a lot of artists' organizations
working on building work relationships with space agencies. There
is an artist-in-residence at the Ames Research Center as we speak.
And artists have collaborated with space agencies in the past. Kistou
Dubois, Frank Pietronigro, Arthur Woods, Paul Van Hooeydonk. They
go as far back as the 70's through the 90's. I collaborated with Daimler-Chrysler
Aerospace back in 2000. And
how large was your stipend at Daimler Chrysler Aerospace? Ricky: 5000
Euros to explore Cultural Utilization of the International Space Station. Essentially
I put together a website about my ISADORA Module project. And
your government stipend? Laurie:
Twenty thousand dollars. Not huge.
Perhaps we should lobby for an artist-in-residence program at the
White House. Laurie:
If I were visiting artist at the White House, I wouldn't try to make
a work of art. I would just want to watch. I would want to know what
the White House gym is like. Ricky:
And I'd watch your gym project from space as artist-in-residence on
the ISS. Whom
is your art intended for? Laurie:
I think I do my work for some sadder version of myself, a woman who
would be sitting in Row K. I am trying to make her laugh. Ricky:
That's sweet. I think I do my work for people who are at the cusp
of becoming artists themselves. I'd like to know that I inspired the
next Christo; some great artist in the future saying that when he
or she was young they saw my work which inspired them to create a
great oeuvre.
Laurie:
I have never seen more than four minutes of a Broadway musical. I
went to see "Cats" and that is the closest I have ever come
to a nervous breakdown. Ricky: The
amount of one-person shows might have to do with the increase of artists
in the scene. Budgets get spread out and the most you can do with
the money is a one-person show. But I made a choice for the one-person
or duet format. I like focus. The content of these one-person shows
is often political via the personal experience. One critic calls it
New Social Theater. As for musicals, I saw Brigadoon when I was at
Parsons. I remember being so high up that the chandelier was partially
blocking my view. What
about the monologue, as currently practiced by Dame Edna or Billy
Crystal? Laurie:
Billy Crystal is doing a monologue about his personal life. I have
never really been an artist who is interested in self-expression or
autobiography. Ricky:
Opposite. Have
any of you ever been psychoanalyzed? Laurie:
No. I started a couple of times, but then I had to leave for the airport. Ricky:
Yes, twice. And all I did was talk about airports. At 57
do you worry about aging and wrinkles? Laurie:
Not really. I think some prunish people look pretty good. I am
more worried about turning into a schlump than into a prune. Ricky:
I worry more about my ass sagging than anything else. How
would you define a schlump? Laurie:
A schlump is someone who doesn't care about anything and who is
just protecting their own turf, which is getting smaller and more
meaningless, and then they disappear.
Do
you find this to be a schlumpy era compared with the 80s, when you
were part of a creatively inspired New York art scene? Laurie:
I don't miss the 80's. I don't miss anything right now. I have zero
time for nostalgia. Ricky:
Well, regarding the 80's I don' t miss a time when Reagan was getting
away with everything. But nostalgia is a huge part of me. Without
it we people of Portuguese extraction are nothing. "Saudade"
is our middle name. And that's why I want to go into space: To miss
Earth tremendously, dreadfully. Deborah Salmon |