Lydia Lunch, recipient of Fellowship in 2022 for her contribution to Contemporary Music from Middle Tennessee State University, one of the nation’s oldest and largest archives devoted to preserving and studying the full scope of American Popular Music.Her vast artistic archives were purchased by New York University’s Fales Library in 2020. “Lydia Lunch was an absolute thrill. Her spoken-word performance was captivating in its message, thrilling in its musicality, and unending in its effect. I continuously think about that performance and how it challenged me to view the world from a different lens. The performance itself represented the best of any learning experience—a presentation of stimulating concepts with an enduring impact.” Joshua Bedford, Assistant Professor of Music History Middle Tennessee State University Sept 30, 2022 “In over 20 years of teaching at MTSU I cannot think of a guest speaker as compelling and impressive as Lydia. From the moment she met my students she had them enthralled with her talent and genuine interest in their creative lives. Her spoken word performance was cathartic and beautiful; a moving, intensely emotional testament to her uncompromising art that was both riveting and breathtaking.” John Dougan, Professor of Music Business and Popular Music Studies Middle Tennessee State University Sept 30, 2022 Lydia Lunch was voted by Time Out magazine as one of the most influential performers to have emerged from New York City. She has taught workshops in Performance Art at The San Francisco Art Institute, along side Meredith Monk as part of Living Voice in Ghent Belgium. She has produced spoken word records, curated performance series in America and Europe, worked with dozens of luminaries in film, music and literature. She has written seven books translated into multiple languages, released over thirty LPS, and continues to be a driving force in art, music and literature and her special forte—performance. No other artist of the 20th century has fought, forged, punched, and sculpted their own artistic vision in such a uniquely original way. Defying categorization, Lydia Lunch has actively conquered new territories and gained international recognition for the innovative quality of her work. Through music, books, spoken word performances, film, video, photography, poetry and a multitude of creative endeavors, she has proven to be one of the most daring artists of the current era. Sexual icon, radical and unclassifiable, Lunch has never ceased to denounce conformism, the exploitation of misery, American politics and violence against women. Her spirit of revolt, her independence, and her prolific collaborations continue to influence new generations of artists. Queen of No Wave, muse of The Cinema of Transgression, writer, musician, poet, spoken word artist and photographer, continues to tour the world in a variety of mediums. A rabid collaborator she continues to release new music as well as reissuing classic material from her vast catalogue of written and musical works. She is currently working with Italian label Radiation Records who have recently released many of her early musical works on vinyl by Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, 1313, Honeymoon in Red, Smoke in the Shadows and her seminal recording Queen of Siam. Since 2019 she has been hosting a weekly podcast, The Lydian Spin, with over 290 episodes as of Feb 2025, that features musicians, artists, writers and filmmakers in conversation. Her decades long career is the subject of The War is Never Over, a feature length documentary by Beth B –which toured the UK and Europe in the summer and fall of 2021-2023 and is available through Kino Lorber Films. Her new documentary Artists - Depression, Anxiety, and Rage - produced and directed with Jasmine Hirst highlights in depth interviews and performances with musicians, writers and visual artists who through art have managed to overcome their childhood traumas premiered in Italy in Nov 2023, and continues to tour the USA and Europe. Featuring Shirley Manson of Garbage, Eugene Robinson of Oxbow, JG Thirlwell, Ron Athey, Bryan Lewis Saunders and many others. The passion of her fury is the best testimony to her lack of cynicism. —Jim Farber, New York Daily News