The Gray Rabbit

Anderson used this research and development residency for The Gray Rabbit, an autobiographical video installation where the artist explores her memories of a pivotal childhood event—a summer she spent in the hospital—realizing that what she remembers and what she recounts to people is a palatable, “cleansed” version of the tale. For Anderson, creating the work was a way to examine the mechanism of telling a story, and in particular how to transfer a story that was in her head into a museum gallery: how to put the story into places. Dreamlike and heavily processed images that evoke scenes from Anderson’s childhood story are projected onto an iconic landscape of a town made of shredded paper. The result is a shimmering sidewalk of imagery that has the motion of narrative without its literalness. Anderson has said that she wants her art to “ . . . evoke a reaction more than explain anything clearly.”

Laurie Anderson, EMPAC’s inaugural distinguished artist-in-residence, presented a series of events focusing on topics unique to her practice as an artist.