Artists and works

Laurie Anderson

Heart of a Dog began as a film commissioned by the Franco-German public television station Arte, as part of a series featuring artists talking about the meaning of life and work. Centring on Anderson’s beloved rat terrier Lolabelle, who died in 2011, Heart of the Dog is a personal essay that weaves together childhood memories; video diaries; philosophical musings on data collection, surveillance culture and the Buddhist conception of the afterlife; and heartfelt tributes to the artists, writers, musicians and thinkers who inspire her. Fusing her own witty, inquisitive narration with original violin compositions, hand-drawn animation, 8 mm movies and artwork culled from exhibitions past and present, Anderson creates a hypnotic, collage-like visual language out of the raw materials of her life and art, examining how stories are constructed and told—and how we use them to make sense of our lives.