Daily Weird News Report
Laurie Anderson is preparing a written work that no one will read for nearly nine decades. The American artist has been selected as the 13th contributor to Oslo’s Future Library, whose manuscripts are sealed until 2114.
The project stores its contributions in a specially designed silent room at the Deichman Bjørvika public library. The eventual collection will be printed at the end of the project on paper made from trees grown in the Future Library forest in Nordmarka, northern Oslo.
Artist Katie Paterson launched the project in 2014 by planting 1,000 spruce trees. The forest is intended to supply the paper for the anthology, and an agreement signed by the City of Oslo in 2022 ensures that it will remain under the control of the Future Library Trust for the duration of the project.
Anderson’s contribution has not yet been defined. According to Paterson, it could take the form of a conventional text, a musical score, a story, instructions or something that does not fit an existing category.
Anderson is known for work spanning writing, theatre, experimental music, visual art, technology and performance. She has published 10 books, received six Grammy nominations and won once. She also received a lifetime achievement award in 2024, while her visual art has been shown at institutions including Washington’s Hirshhorn Museum and Stockholm’s Moderna Museet.
In remarks reported by the Guardian, Anderson said she hoped to write something about love that would be useful to readers in 2114. She has described her lifelong affection for books, libraries and forests, and credited her mother with encouraging those interests.
The Future Library Trust said Anderson was chosen for her ability to communicate across time and for work that moves between language, music, visual art, technology, performance and other forms. Previous contributors include Margaret Atwood, Han Kang, Ocean Vuong, David Mitchell, Elif Shafak and Amitav Ghosh, who was the most recent writer before Anderson’s selection.
