May 8, 2026
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
After experiencing Some American Dreams, stop by the Feldman Forum between 4–6 PM to write a postcard or draw a picture in response to Laurie Anderson’s 1984 song, “O Superman.”
In this present moment, consider the powers that be in your own life. How can we speak to power? Can the powerful hold us in their “long arms,” as Anderson sings? Can we hold one another?
Organized in conjunction with Some American Dreams.
May 8, 2026
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
The Fabric Workshop and Museum
1214 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Harry I. Feldman Forum
Free | Registration encouraged
RegisterIn Frame, on view in Some American Dreams, Laurie Anderson presents a still from the music video from her 1981 song “O Superman.” She uses the textured surface of the rug and the preservation of the time stamp to replicate the visual grain of video. Written in the aftermath of a disastrous 1980 rescue attempt of American hostages in Iran, “O Superman” is inspired by the lyrics of Jules Massenet’s “Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père” (O Sovereign, O Judge, O Father) from the 1885 opera Le Cid. By transforming the sovereign, judge, and father to Superman, Judge, and Mom and Dad, Anderson reinterprets Massenet’s prayer for victory in battle to invoke distinctly American notions of authority, nostalgia, technology, and the nuclear family.
