laurie anderson interview

I need to learn things about what a garden means in terms of a Japanese garden. It isn’t about grass or flowers, it’s about placement of stones in a space to represent things. The theme of Expo is nature and specifically this area in Japan, Nagoya, is all about water. Also, one of the other themes of Japanese gardens is time. There’s this 15th-century Zen master named Dogen who wrote a book called “Enlightenment Unfolds.” His central question is “Are mountains aware?” I thought this sounds like [NASA’s] Ames [Research Center in California], where I just was. They’re trying to put consciousness into these Mars rovers—train them as geologists, crack stuff open. The problem is with their sense of place; where they are and where they think they are is out of alignment often.

I’m not usually where I think I am either. So being out here in the Rocky Mountains, I’m right now looking at this giant, giant rock, it’s kind of spooky.
Laurie Anderson