Nothing in My Pockets

Nothing in My Pockets, An Audio Diary by Laurie Anderson
by Paul Snelson II on Friday, October 8, 2010 at 5:57pm
UNIVERSTIY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS
Nothing in My Pockets
An Audio Diary by Laurie Anderson
Paul L. Snelson, II 10/8/2010

This paper is a critical analysis of a sonic work of art, an audio diary created by seminal performance artist and author, photographer and musician, Laurie Anderson. In 2003, as a project for French Radio, Laurie Anderson created a sonic, audio diary that she entitled: 'Nothing in My Pockets'. She extracts selected moments that she captured on a small digital recording device, a tiny microphone, like a spy and then organized them chronologically and later, in post production, digitally edited and at some points, manipulated them and added her own narration and effects, like an echo for emphasis for example, or an audio enhanced sound of a hall at another point. She then frames these moments with personal narration and her original 'music' and as a kind of audio architecture.

After the initial experience of listening to this audio book, I thought that the 'music' was a kind of segue material to act as a backdrop or soundtrack to the cinematic quality of the sonic documentation that is at the same time personal and mythological, like a movie without the visual component, a radio play but after listening several times I realized as a kind of epiphany that the musical architecture and mixing and processing of this very epic ‘Warholian’ documentation project, (as her partner Lou Reed, refers to it while traveling in a car in Italy) is another means of commentary and that this 'music' is her way not only of 'framing' the moments recorded over several months in 2003 but also a communication device, an abstract method of sharing her thoughts behind the scenes, a point of view about the events captured in sound. She then neatly packaged this project on two compact discs with a slim complementary book complete with personal documentary photos in a product for sale to the world at large.

The project includes revelatory moments over the span of several months and begins with an explanation in retrospect, of the project beginning with a lunch at the Royal College of Art in London. The people at the table are discussing how long it would take to walk from London to Dublin. A man at the table says that he “hates having anything in his pockets”. As a clue into her creative process, Anderson then discloses that she “really liked this way of traveling, this way of being”. And therefore, decides to name the project “Nothing in My Pockets”.

Later in this two hour audio diary Anderson goes to Houston, Texas as the first 'Artist in Residence' for NASA. The moments range from the banal to the serendipitous. At another instance she records her own voice on the radio, an interview she gave to WNYC on a show called 'Survival Kit' where curiously she edited out most of the things she would bring with her to a desert island leaving in only a select few items. She mentions a cell phone with unlimited talking time and a violin. The interviewer at the end asks if she learned anything about herself from this process. The intriguing thing is that at the same time the recording is taking place at her home on Canal Street the broadcast is captured while she is ironing her clothes and we are given a look at the daily life and events through the filtered lens of a very expressive and a powerfully creative artist's point of view. The entire book lasts over two hours and is a type of self portrait and sonic scrapbook. After listening to this diary I felt that I learned more about Laurie Anderson and felt a more personal connection after she delicately shared this time of her life with me as a member of the vast public audience for whom this project was created. It ends with a trip to Athens, Greece where she was asked to be a contributor to the 2004 Olympic Games. In preparation for the games, all the street dogs in Athens are rounded up and killed. The final moments are a recording of outdoor sounds of sheep going out into the valley. This choice of a final conclusion featuring sheep to me means that she may see herself as a kind of sonic shepherd and that all of us listening and watching as audience members 'follow' as a type of flock but this interpretation is never confirmed or denied by the artist herself rather only vaguely described in her own words and her voice as a narrator of this incredibly rich, generous piece that is both a ‘time capsule’ and timeless work of art.

Works Cited
Gordon, Mel. "Laurie Anderson: Performance Artist." Drama Review 24.2 (1980): 51. Periodicals Index Online. Web. 10/6/2010. Mel Gordon writes about the early performance art of Laurie Anderson in "Laurie Anderson: Performance Artist". In the opening of this article he quotes Laurie Anderson as refuting the category of an autobiographical artist. Instead she refers to her work as a kind of 'stereo' or 'pairing' of various dualities, male and female, real and imaginary, sound and language, live and filmic. She cites her childhood as the inspiration of the storytelling aspect of her performances. One of eight children, she discovered at an early age the method of making stories interesting lied in inventing and commenting and framing them in mythic dimensions. Often her siblings would use other voices and spin wild yarns at the dinner table where all the family would give their own personal take on the events of the day. This then lead circuitously to her role as a kind of artist and character in her own performances. Her stories seem at once factual yet dreamy and surreal at the same time resonating with a kind of echoing timeless meaning that lurks in the memory as the best performances often do. Her roots as an Art History Instructor at New York City College were a point of departure for her as a performance artist and in a way her performances are still rooted in a kind of instructional rubric but with bizarre fictional twists. At the end of the article Gordon quotes Anderson again with an account historically speaking of how New York City is actually the Garden of Eden with supporting scientific and historical yet ultimately fictitious 'evidence'.

Gordon, Mel. "Laurie Anderson's "United States Part II"." Drama Review 24.4 (1980): 112. Periodicals Index Online. Web. 10/6/2010.
In "Laurie Anderson's "United States Part II", Mel Gordon describes the second of a four part performance. This strange synthesis of the punk rock set and the intellectual avant-garde art crowd catapulted Laurie Anderson into the role of New York’s most famous performance artist. The description of the sequence is in a kind of documentary style. Describing each sequence as it was observed by Gordon himself. The text is riveting as a document since it is from a critical point of view and dates back to time of 1980 capturing the performance in words as it was observed. In the archival "United States Part I-VI" four CD set the visuals are missing and there has never been a publication of a film version of the performance so Gordon's description of it is a real treat. Laurie Anderson uses a toy plastic gavel throughout many of the sets and bangs it on a brightly lit wrist watch. At one point texts are projected on the back drop in alphabetical order: ‘A-Frame’, ‘B-side’, ‘C-note’ until finally ‘ZZZ’ ends the sequence. O Superman is described in rich detail and the text of 'When force is gone there's always Mom' is mentioned and is still even thirty years later a credit to Anderson's originality as a writer and creator. The article would be a useful archival source in the research and development of Anderson's work retrospectively as it is an objective and fresh account of one of the most original American voices of the late twentieth century.

McClary, Susan. "This is Not a Story My People Tell: Musical Time and Space According to Laurie Anderson." Discourse 12.1 (1989): 104. Periodicals Archive Online. Web. 10/6/2010.
Susan McClary in her article "This is Not a Story My People Tell: Musical Time and Space According to Laurie Anderson" explores the originality of Anderson's music as an original female composer and how through minimalism and a thorough knowledge of literary and musical history she is able to deconstruct and originally challenge the history of music as an art form heretofore created mainly by men. She describes in great detail the song "La Langue D'Amour" where Anderson proceeds to reinvent the story of Adam and Eve and shift our gaze to the talking snake and his relationship with the women whom she describes is superior in intellect to the mere man who was, as Anderson puts it "Was always as happy as a clam". McClary commits quite a lot of rhetoric on the structure of Anderson's music which has been marginalized or ignored by musicians as something between accompaniment and mere noise. As it turns out McClary asserts that Anderson's music is a new original and feminine way to structure time. Anderson's lyrics too often speak to the members of the audience involved with 'high art' and make references to sometimes obscure Opera and then shift to a common phrase like 'hot head' or hold me in your 'arms' described as petrochemical arms or military arms. I found this article to be quite helpful in dissecting the harmonic, temporal and structural components of Anderson's music which has always captivated my imagination and intrigued me, as both a listener and a composer of sonic art myself.

Mowitt, John. "Performance Theory as the Work of Laurie Anderson." Discourse 12.2 (1990): 48. Periodicals Archive Online. Web. 10/6/2010.
In "Performance Theory as the Work of Laurie Anderson" John Mowitt illuminates the historical concepts of what he describes as 'performance theory' and the uncanny ability of Laurie Anderson's alleged 'performances' where one cannot always discern as he puts it "What is live and what is Memorex". He describes her performances as postmodern and made up as they go along and in doing so, they play with the boundaries of 'framing' in the theatrical and poetic sense while never violating them yet making the audience aware of them often only on a subliminal level. At certain times a 'prop' and an 'instrument' and 'lighting' are all merged into one gestural neon bow of a violin. At other points Mowitt describes the language of the opening scene in Anderson's 'United States' as one of displacement of unknown origin and of being 'lost' and of never being able to go home. The tight thin line that Anderson precariously balances between what is live and what is recorded is the very basis of "Nothing in My Pockets" and it is a relevant theme that she has always seemed to travel between these two realms gracefully and cleverly. This gift of creation and then 'recreation' in meaning both to create again and to have fun is what makes Anderson and her work so riveting, intriguing and timeless.

Robotics Institute. “The End of the Moon, an Interview with Laurie Anderson.” Carnegie Mellon U, n.d. Web. 10/6/2010.
“Q: You also have two projects in France - one for French radio and the other for the Opera Garnier. How did these happen? LA: The French Radio project started out when they asked me to do a project for their culture show. So I decided to do a diary, an audio diary. So I got this simple set-up of a minidisk player and tiny microphone like a spy microphone, and I carried it around with me everywhere and recorded things every day for several months. Just everyday things - people talking, atmospheres, taking my dog to the spa. Sound is such a powerful way to make a diary. Anyway it's sort of out of hand now, very long, like a miniseries. It's called "Nothing in my Pockets". The producers were just here, and we were trying to edit it but it seems like it's turning into a kind of - I think it will air this spring.” This was the only bit of published information I could uncover about the allusive and intriguing project that Laurie Anderson created called ‘Nothing in My Pockets’. In the interview she describes a desire to create an epic poem and how seductive and yet pretentious that aspiration might be. She also describes a new resolution to be a little ‘lighter’ and more direct rather than always hiding behind a ‘simile’. Also to remove herself a new point of view without the first person, not saying and framing things in terms of ‘I’ so much. The interview ends with Laurie Anderson’s favorite way of getting feedback from the audience. She says, “Well, I like it when we fall into that communal dream”.

Comment · Like · Share
Brent Reese Ps2,
The term “audio architecture” you mention creates mental images of building, construction, style, manner, planning, and design. The architecture or structure in this case, starts out as metaphorical rather than tangible (for me). However, both metaphorical and tangible structures require time and space- our personal time and space being the tangible structure.

The genesis of her ideas initiates the need for observing surroundings and social behaviors, gathering and organizing and translating the seemingly unrelated chaos, and recording and transcribing the material into a performance for others to experience. Rather than dwelling or living in a new building, the listener becomes part of the larger picture by “living the change” he or she experiences throughout the performance and hopefully, going forward.

Her “abstract method of sharing her thoughts behind the scenes, a point of view about the events captured in sound” is captivating. Her interpretation of and response to the events are very interesting to say the least. Her commentary throughout her works provokes critical thinking, personal evaluation and further discussion on contemporary topics; a valuable exercise in learning, making meaning of experiences, and personal growth. Her creative implementation of the photographic/audio journal makes this “self-portrait and sonic scrapbook” engaging for the listener/observer. (“Sound is such a powerful way to make a diary.”) Because it involves multiple media (sounds and pictures), the listener/observer connects more easily with the unseen reality, and hopefully remembers and is inspired by the message long enough to be the change he/she wants to see in the world (Gandhi).

I’ve been to several performances and listened to hours of her music, so I am familiar with her message. As with most of LA’s work, I feel that her performances are not necessarily designed for entertainment purposes. Her “instructional rubric with bizarre fictional twists” carry and deliver a message to the listener/observer in an almost secular/evangelical sort of way. It appears to me that her gospel is one of exposing political vagaries and societal inequities. I do believe changes are necessary and LA’s strong voice is one among many who echo the need to wake up and make a difference in your corner of the world. And I do buy-in to the idea that LA, along with others like David Byrne, Cyndi Lauper, the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, Maya Angelou, Corrie ten Boom, Elie Wiesel, Nelson Mandela, Viktor Frankl, etc., promote the idea that (personal and social) change begins within; exposing truths and lies, and speaking up should not be considered optional.

Your conclusion: “This gift of creation and then 'recreation' in meaning both to create again and to have fun is what makes Anderson and her work so riveting, intriguing and timeless” hits the mark. As always, great job! You consistently provide an explanation and a previously unexamined perspective beneath the surface of artists and their work. Oftentimes, your message sheds light on and reveals new meaning to misunderstood artists, their work, and above all their contribution to the world where we live.

Sep 15, 3:39 PM

The relationship between the sonic and the visual interests me a great deal. Like musical notes on a staff I place brush strokes on a graph. I think about Descartes and Einstein's "System of Coordinates" and how space is mapped out in three dimensions and when you add the dimension of time you enter the fourth dimension where film and sound merge and the visual and the sonic converge in a square of synergy. I want to explore these ideas and the possibilities are endless. Currently I am working in acrylic paint on canvas since my digital studio almost was destroyed by a flood, I felt compelled urgently to put my thoughts down with a brush and in a sort of urgent rush I managed to produce a decent iteration quickly. I have so much more to do. I also purchased a digital recorder recently and want to create my own soundtracks to accompany me while I paint, draw and sculpt to create a closed creative system where everything is original and refers to past works and forges new territory for the future. I want to contribute what I can with the time I have to demonstrate the relationships between disciplines that I see as essentially the same format just using different tools and materials to translate the idea of capturing energy in as many different media as my means will allow and find permutations within the various media, photography, video, sound, music, painting, writing, drawing and sculpture. These ideas are not new but it is my goal to find my own way and my own voice by combining and finding my way within parameters of finite time and spaces to explore the infinite realm of the fractions within and in-between the borders of this rubric. It is not just thinking 'outside the box' which seems so popular as of late, but rather at all the infinite possibilities within in it. To make the best better to develop and grow and to show the interrelationships between media will give the viewer hopefully a new key to his or her imagination and to view each individual as a unique entity with creative capabilities and freedom within the confines, the rules and regulations, the parameters of a finite time on earth, life is not eternal though we might wish it were. There are limits and schedules and small chunks of freedom within the life that should be and for me must be filled with products of my own creative impulse. Otherwise guilt takes over and I feel that I have wasted my time but if I learn from my mistakes, then I can solve the problems of the present constructively and develop momentum and even if only in some small way make my dreams come true and approximate my ideals. This is the goal to find our way as a creative culture is not only a gift it is a responsibility. To make life interesting is the artists function as Isamu Noguchi said and I agree with him but would also like to add that with that function is a responsibility to work. Within every problem there lies an opportunity and a freedom within parameters and constraints. Patience and calmness are key in developing the vision and intuitive insight and to find unique solutions and to produce a fresh new vision takes a lot of thought and a lot of time but if the individual can devote even just a little time each day to find his or her own way to make something to create from the arsenal of unique memories within and find something of some use then that makes for a better life. This is the time when creatively pursuing dreams is in jeopardy, with terrorism and computers and cameras watching there is the danger that privacy and creative freedom is becoming extinct. That is why the idea of freedom within the individual own individual mind is so important. Without an imagination I don't know if I could survive the rhythms and disciplines of life in America at the turn of the century. These are dark times and we must find within ourselves the resolve to begin and begin again to find the inner light that is the critical role of the arts. Focusing on positive thinking skills has enabled me to navigate through the death of my mentor, the loss of my job and to embark on another degree at a university. Positive thinking is a habit and a skill that must be developed it there is to be any reason for the artist and the creative community to exist, this facet of purpose is crucial to uplift, to inspire to give hope and to dream of a better way of live for all the inhabitants of this small, fragile, blue green spaceship earth that is priceless and there is no way to discern what it is worth. This is our hope and it is a responsibility to not just view it as a place of consumers, using up resources but to think back and ahead and to anticipate the future with open eyes, hearts and minds. The purpose of the artist is to make life fun and to find ways to recreate ourselves in a new way. Recreation is another word for fun. So as we go through this transitory life let us find our own individual way harmonically and together as well as separately let us pursue happiness and find a way through and toward a common goal of peace, prosperity and beauty. Surely if we can work individually and collectively we can find a new resolved purpose to find a way to put an end to raw greed and to share and to ensure that no one is hungry or sick or without shelter and clothing though these are dark economic times and the world market may seem in peril if we could take a step back and look at what we have and what we lack surely if we can put a man on the moon then what is stopping us from putting food, clothing and shelter on all our native inhabitants of earth? This is not outside the realm of possibility this is the time when we need to really assess the difference between what we want, what we need, and what is basically just excess greed. A brave new world is on the horizon and I for one cannot wait for it to get here and to renew the role of the creative mind as a way out and over and through any adversity to navigate life with a sense of balance, an even keel to calmly address the problems of the present after practicing and learning from mistakes as the earth may quake and shake, seemingly quick decisions must be made and fast if this Mother blue green space ship earth is built to last and I for one hope that it is and that cities and natures can coexist that man and nature can find boundaries, parameters and a harmonious balance will be restored to a life on earth that will enable longevity and peace. Not just a sudden press of the button where everything changes and is destroyed but a well thought out, considered strategy for the tolerant inhabitants of but mankind and nature to exist simultaneous each caring for each other and restoring a balance to life here on this small, fragile, blue green space ship, Mother Earth. As Maya Angelou said, "I know why the caged bird sings..." And I want to add that within each and every heart let there be a sense of hope, of possibility and ultimately a sense of art. For far too long artistic endeavors have been marginalized and reduced to being totally dependent on money and galleries and museums and having very little to do with the everyday lives of the common men and women who may never have the opportunity to see life through new eyes to find the freedom within. As artists, I feel it is up to us to show and give them that opportunity to unlock the prison of the mind and to find a key within to freedom and happiness and the reward and fulfillment derived from making things.

8.25.10 by Paul Snelson II on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 5:15pm

8.25.10 Home 5:00PM The system of coordinates that governs perception from the molecule to the Milky Way is one in which includes a network, a scaffolding that contains all visual phenomena. If a spark of a thought could start a fire of inspiration in the collective imagination of the entire population what then could we accomplish as a group that individually could not be solved alone.? If we could all arrive at the same conclusion that we are inextricably linked in the way that we think and communicate perhaps as a group we could achieve prosperity, peace and harmony all around the world. This is not just another utopian day dream. We are positioned on the edge of a creative break through where the structure of thought unites the imaginations and creates a new synthetic balance across all fields and modes of creative output. This network of minds will be a powerful force in the future where as a discovery is made it is instantly communicated across oceans and continents and the entire planet is illuminated like a beehive made of fireflies. If each one of us cares even in only some small way and then shares; what could be accomplished in just a little amount of time? Einstein created a legacy, a rhyme of space and time that changes perception without question and gives the artists of the future a new point of departure. What if a poet became an astronaut and during his or her trip into outer space sent back to the earth messages that would inspire the landlocked to think about existence in a new way? Is peace on earth and good will toward men really just another delusion of grandure? Surely together we could solve things like: the offshore drilling that is spilling and poisoning our most precious resource: water; also the problem of starvation, surely if we can transport weapons to remote locations, bullets, missiles, bombs and tanks then could we not transport the basic nutrients of substances to share the cornucopia of our wealth to promote the health of all citizens of the world. This is not just another revolutionary political scheme or a daydream. This is reality. We have the technology and the resources to make choices to have all the voices crying out in disease and hunger to be heard and if we work together with diligence and of one mind we can ensure longevity and prosperity for all mankind. We can no longer be blind we must find a purpose in the circle of our lives and strive to make this earth a safe and habitable place. To simply think of nature as a resource to be consumed is a disgrace. What has been stolen should be replaced. This is the twenty first century and a new era has begun and our generation must be equipped with not only knowledge and technical ability but with creativity, intuition, ingenuity and the vision to make wise decisions that are thought through and tested to improve and to make our best efforts even better. It is up to you. The concept of every man for himself is antiquated and dead. We must focus on our similarity and find the common threads that when woven together forms the very fabric of life itself. The idea of uniting the collective imagination to solve the problems of the present constructively by learning from the mistakes of the past is not hocus pocus or magic. We must focus on the tasks at hand and build a culture that will last through the next millennium and beyond. In America the self absorbed, self centered egocentric nation that has been hoarding and gorging on food, fuel and technology must look out for the new frontier a new global mindset that is informed and ready to resolve problems not just outside the box but from the inside out. The trick is not just to think outside the box, but at all the infinite possibilities within it. With the rise of violence and terror that opened the door to a heightened sense of defense and military security the sense that anything goes has been compromised and creative freedom must first and foremost be within the mind and thought out rationally before any idea is executed in both senses of that word. This is a dark time for creative minds and a new galvanized strength of imagination that includes width, depth and length in the architecture of the future and the music of science and the molecular symphony of DNA that proves that there is a code and a structure that proves that we are all part of the same building blocks and yet each one of us is unique. There is no more time to play, hide and seek. The days of the secret are numbered and a new union that has been asleep for the last one hundred years is about to either light up the planet with solutions or destroy her with the push of a button. We must end this insatiable greed that seems to inspire so many and the need for speed while seductive must be handled with caution. As an artist, I intend to always be present and mindful in the moment and to do my very best to end violence and torment of all my fellow creatures. I am only one voice but I am committed and have made the choice to use my faculties being they what they may, for the greater good. Now is the time for all men, women and children and all those in between to come to the aid of the planet and ask ourselves not what the world can do for you but what can you do for the world? If each citizen could free themsleves from the prison of current circumstance and find within themselves the tools of creativity, ingenuity, innovation as a survival skill will thrill and excite the impoverished as their wishes for better lives with clean water and food on every table will and can be fulfilled. It is jealousy and hatred for the blind American mindset that turned an American airplane, made in America, into a weapon that has slayed the sloth of Wall Street and changed the way freedom is perceived and achieved forever after. And if as Americans we continue along this path the rest of the world will merely laugh and say, "I told you so". The possibility for change has never been a more urgent matter than right now. Americans have an opportunity to work together as guardians of prosperity and freedom and to work with the United Imaginations of our fellow countries to make our one and only home, this big blue space ship earth a better place for each and every member of the human race. We can protect all people from fear the choice is clear and a new day is near this is what I have always wanted to hear: "Welcome! Welcome! Welcome Home!" We can uplift each other with our Art and replace the tragic with magic. The baton is being passed to a new generation of imaginations we must teach them about the reverence for life and to end strife around the world and to make the best better. This letter is my prayer and I hope to contribute my fair share to the beauty and prosperity of the world and find new ways to enlightened and uplift the minds of the current time with thoughts of hope for a better tomorrow, and to end sorrow and the need to beg, steal and borrow, to follow my heart if only to start a new movement of improvement built on the foundation of positive thinking skills and generating ideas and products right here right now to make my people proud once again and to give back to my predecessors and professors the credit for teaching and reaching out to me with their knowledge and wisdom as I make my way through college and on to new fields that heretofore have yet to be imagined. To combine spontaneity and rhythm into one all encompassing vision, an opera that demonstrates the power of united imaginations in a brave new world where every boy and girl is appreciated and nurtured along the one and only road of life itself, to add a new look and a new book to the shelf and to put an end to need and greed, to find a way to grow and gain contentment just in the ability to know.