THE HANGOVER REPORT – Laurie Anderson’s HABEAS CORPUS profoundly illuminates the Park Avenue Armory despite an underpowered night-capping concert

IMG_4350Laurie Anderson is an artist who defies categorization. Her latest construct, Habeas Corpus, continues to find Ms. Anderson wearing a number of hats – multimedia artist, singer/songwriter, and most importantly here, collaborator. The show program best and most succinctly describes her latest project at the Park Avenue Armory:

“Captured and imprisoned at the age of fourteen, Mohammed el Gharani was one of the youngest detainees at Guantanamo. He was held for seven years.

“A U.S. federal judge dismissed the charges and ordered his release in 2009.

“Between October 2 and 4, 2015, el Gharani will be beamed live from West Africa into the drill hall of the Park Avenue Armory.”

For Habeas Corpus, Ms. Anderson has created a larger than life sculpture of a seated figure (reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.) onto which el Gharani’s image is projected in high definition. Once each hour, the el Gharani’s sculpture “speaks” frankly yet gently of his experiences before, during, and after Guantanamo. Besides the sculpture, the only other illumination comes from a large disco ball hung in the center of the drill hall. The insistent droning sound design is by Ms. Anderson’s late partner, Lou Reed (executed by Stewart Hurwood). The overall results are simple and profound. Ms. Anderson’s collaboration with el Gharani moves beyond journalism of the horrific circumstances of el Gharani’s (and others’ ongoing) experience. Anderson and el Gharani are not focused on pointing fingers of placing blame. Ultimately, the powerful point that is being made is that el Gharani is – and by extension all of us – inherently a good, decent man. If we all took this to heart, then we wouldn’t have places like Guantanamo to begin with.

Each night, the installation is capped by a concert in the drill hall amidst the sculpture’s looming presence. Unfortunately, the concert that I attended on Sunday night was tentative and uneven. Ms. Anderson played a few songs along with fellow performers Shahzad Ismaily, Merrill Garbus, and Stewart Hurwood. All talented musicians, but the whole thing just seemed under-conceived. The concert was closed by a 30-minute dance party set from Omar Souleyman. Suffice to say, the dance party vibe didn’t jive with the meditative quality of the installation. Not even Omar could pump up the confused crowd, many of whom left before the end of the concert.

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HABEAS CORPUS
Art Installation/Concert
Closed

Categories: Music, Other Music, Other Musings

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