My committee told me to look into the work of Vitto Acconci, (which I did and I’ve got nothing against jacking off under a ramp while people walk above you except that it seems less provocative than asking those people if they’ll have sex with you) but I want to talk about Laurie Anderson.  Besides being an amazing performance artist Laurie Anderson has done something that no one else has done and no one else may ever do, be an Artist In Residence for NASA.  During her 2003 stay at NASA she produced the piece The End of the Moon and was paid $20,000.  This was clearly too much money to give an artist, and congress cut the NASA AIR budget the following year.  I was fortunate enough to to see this performance in Providence and hear her speak about it at the MFA in Boston back when I was at RISD.  I can only imagine what other great works would have come out of this program if it had saved in existence.

Dear Congress, Please approve a new NASA Artist In Residence budget.

Attn: NASA – Pick me!

Photo from Laurie Anderson.