Electronic music is omnipresent in the works of Anne Imhof and is a central element of her practice as well as that of Eliza Douglas, who began her career as a musician alongside Devendra Banhart.

Their shared admiration for women in the history of electronic music resonates with the research carried out by Lisa Rovner, director of Sisters with Transistors, a documentary that delves into the heart of the story of pioneering women in electro.

Éliane Radigue, Wendy Carlos, Clara Rockmore, Daphne Oram, Bebe Barron, Pauline Oliveros, Delia Derbyshire, Maryanne Amacher, Suzanne Ciani and Laurie Spiegel all made immeasurable contributions to the emergence of electronic music. Rovner’s film reconstructs the underappreciated history of these visionary women who, from the 1950s to the 1980s, appropriated a range of machines and technologies to radically shape the way in which we produce and listen to music today. Drawing on rich archival material and the economic, political and social contexts of the 20^th century, Lisa Rovner’s film reveals a unique struggle for emancipation, reasserting the central role of women in the history of music and in society as a whole.

Far more than the history of a musical genre, Sisters with Transistors is a tribute to these heroines of sound, veritable pioneers of modernity whose artistic trajectories are narrated by none other than Laurie Anderson.

Sisters With Transistors, 2020. Produced by Anna Lena Films. Coproduced by Willow Glen Films.

© Anna Lena Films & Willow Glen. Image : Maryanne Amacher by Peggy Weil.