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Laurie Anderson’s Puppet Motel

Since I’ve never had a chance to see Laurie Anderson perform live, I was interested to see how her performance art would come across as a game. I was not disappointed.  In fact, it’s an ideal venue to get a feel for her work while having fun. 

She has put together, with the help of designer Hsin-Chien Huang, a set of 30 or so strange and wonderful interactive rooms.  As you travel down the main hall of the motel, icons appear on the wall and clicking on one will take you to an often surreal place where you might hear whispering wall outlets, skate in circles while listening to a rhythmic piece of prose or clear a television of static to reveal something to watch.  In each room, you can play with the images, words, or even sounds that might trigger a secret exit into another area.  It’s a very addictive game, and I’ve gone into it several times to see if I can find all the rooms, which I haven’t yet.

The music in the game suits the atmosphere in each area.  Anderson also has a mesmerizing quality to her voice that drew me into her stories.  The only problem I had with the game was a repeated crash just after the ducks swam by in the shooting gallery.  My used disk has a scratch that might have caused it.  I’ve since gotten another copy but haven’t had a chance to see if it works better.

It’s an oldie, Oscar, from 1995.  I have the Macintosh versions by Macromedia and have no idea if it was made for Windows as well.

That’s good to know.  Thanks, Wilco.