A decade after Günter Tembrock founded the Animal Sound Archive in Berlin, Andy Warhol founded his Factory in New York. Like Günter, Andy also carried around a tape recorder and likewise, it developed into a intimate relationship, later scrutinized by Gustavus Stadler, author of “MY WIFE”: THE TAPE RECORDER AND WARHOL’S QUEER WAYS OF LISTENING.

The essay focuses on the vital period of 1963-1967, when Andy redirected his artistic practice from painting to sound, to listening. As the title of the essay suggests, Andy declared himself married to his recorder.

Olivia Liang, author of The Lonely City, portrays Andy Warhol as an artist with social anxiety, constantly surrounded by the people in his Factory, yet utterly lonely.

With a recorder as a buffer, he did not have to engage in communication with what he was listening to. The recorder allowed him to be surrounded by people and at the same time, it prevented connection. According to himself, it killed his emotional life. His whole career was an attempt for self erasure. As a pioneer in the genre of POP art, Warhol is known for copying, multiplying and reproducing material through automated methods that leaves no trace of himself.