Message from the Library: Laurie Anderson

Seminal, pioneering artist Laurie Anderson has been commissioned by Brooklyn Public Library to present the next Message from the Library lecture. Her message, titled, “The Size of the Con,” which will be available as a hand-printed chapbook promptly after her lecture, will address how to prepare for the 2020 election cycle and the tumultuous year ahead in the United States.

Message from the Library lectures ask leading cultural figures to reflect on today’s most precarious issues and is part of BPL’s mission to convene diverse voices in the Library’s safe space to have meaningful dialogue about the political, economic, social and cultural issues of the day.

Laurie Anderson is one of America's most renowned - and daring - creative pioneers. Known primarily for her multimedia presentations, she has cast herself in roles as varied as visual artist, composer, poet, photographer, filmmaker, electronics whiz, vocalist and instrumentalist.

Following the address, audience members will be invited to debate and discuss the issues presented in Anderson's remarks in breakout conversations moderated by noted writers and intellectuals.

Breakout session leaders:

Laura Flanders (@GRITlaura) is the award-winning host and executive producer of The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally-syndicated TV and radio program that looks at real-life models of shifting power in the arts, economics and politics (@theLFShow). She is a contributing writer at the Nation and the author of six books, including The New York Times best-seller BUSHWOMEN: Tales of a Cynical Species. In 2019 she won an Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media and the Womens Media Center Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dan Kaufman is the author of The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics, which was published by W.W. Norton last year. He has also written for The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine among other publications. Originally from Wisconsin, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and sons. Follow Dan on Twitter at @dankaufman70.