Pioneering artist and musician Laurie Anderson is Guest Director for Brighton Festival 2016.
Anderson takes the helm as the Festival celebrates its 50th year.
Renowned for her inventive use of technology – from her 1981 hit O Superman to her appointment as NASA’s first artist-in-residence – Anderson is one of America’s most daring creative pioneers.
Her eclectic, multidisciplinary career has spanned the worlds of art, theatre and experimental music and has seen her create works as a writer, director, visual artist and vocalist.
Most recently Anderson has garnered acclaim for her first feature film in almost 30 years – Heart of a Dog – which reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother, her beloved dog, and such diverse subjects as family memories, surveillance and Buddhist teachings.
A long-time supporter of Brighton Festival, Anderson has been described by Brighton Festival 2015 Guest Director Ali Smith as: “the performance artist, singer, musician, artist of our lifetime I think – a great, great figure of liberty and liberation of the arts”.
Anderson says: “I’m so happy to be serving as Guest Director of Brighton Festival in its historic 50th year. Our theme of home and place is especially relevant with so many people in the world on the move now looking, like all of us, for a place we can belong. I’ve been part of the Festival several times and it was exciting to watch the city become the heart of so much art. I’m looking forward to being part of it this year.”
The 50th Brighton Festival will take place from May 7-29, 2016 and will feature new works from Laurie Anderson alongside exclusives, world and UK premieres from a wide range of international, national and local artists and companies.
Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Festival says: “We are thrilled and honoured to announce such a major international figure as Guest Director for Brighton Festival 2016. In our 50th year, it feels right to reflect on the original intentions of the Festival which from the start were about celebrating international culture, the new and the avant-garde. Laurie Anderson has been experimenting, creating and challenging audiences all over the world for almost as long as Brighton Festival has existed – indeed, she’s been a part of the Festival’s journey in past years with some very special commissions and appearances in the city. She continues to break new ground in her own work and through collaborations with some of the most promising artists of the future, and we are looking forward to celebrating all this in what we hope will be a very special 50th Brighton Festival in May.”
Full programme details will be announced on Wednesday, February 17 2016.
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