Laurie Anderson | Hearring

Laurie Anderson
Hearring
Zurich, Switzerland: Parkett Editions, 1997
10.2 x 4.5 x 2 cm.
Edition of 150 signed and numbered copies

Produced for Parkett issue #49 (which featured Anderson, Jeff Wall and Douglas Gordon), this single earring consists of a brass, copper, circuit board, loudspeaker, lithium battery, Plexiglas and wires. It features a playable sound message of approximately twenty seconds.

Released in 1997 for $440, the edition remains available from the publisher, though the price has now more than tripled. In 2008, it was raised to $600 US and to $900 US by 2012.  A copy sold in September of 2013 at a Christies auction for 750 GBP ($1205 US) and the Parkett site now lists the work at € 1,400.00.

The jewelry is by Josiah Dearborn, and the 'engineering design' is by Bob Bielecki, who previously collaborated with Anderson on works such as her signature magnetic tape violin. The audio varies, and may include a violin solo, or a short story.

The above fax to Jacqueline Burckhardt indicates that Anderson had originally considered a pair of earrings, along with five alternate ideas: a thermometer, a tie, a grain of sand, a wine glass and a laser earring.

Hearring is available here, from the publisher.



“Firmly rooted in time and in the world, her art explores a territory between keen wakefulness and (day)-dreams, where things of the real world and visions together penetrate consciousness, where perception stimulates dreams, and dreams sharpen perception. …For almost three decades, ceaselessly circling themes and motifs in text, image, and music have been coupled in Laurie Anderson’s performances and installations with new material, forever evolving in a cosmology-in-flux, in the endless flow of a great work in progress.”

- Jacqueline Burckhardt Parkett No. 49, 1997