Still speaking her mind

Spoken-word artist Laurie Anderson’s work is as political now as it was when she moved to New York in 1969, says Ed Power

LAURIE ANDERSON thinks she has stumbled into an alternate reality. Halfway through a European tour, the acclaimed multi-media artist and avant-garde pop star has passed through economic disaster zones Greece, Spain and Portugal (she’s due in Ireland next week).

Now she is in Israel where a creepy calm prevails. Nobody is on the streets waving placards; nobody in the bars and cafes is talking about the economy. It is unnerving her.