Viva (born August 23, 1938) is an American actress, writer and a former Warhol superstar.
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She was born Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann in Syracuse, New York. She was given the name Viva by Andy Warhol before the release of her first film but later used her married last name (Auder). She appeared in several of Warhol's films and was a frequent guest at The Factory. Viva was on the phone with Warhol when he was shot by Valerie Solanas.[1]
After she began making films for other directors she also began writing. Her first book, Superstar, was an insider's look at the Factory scene, a partly fictional autobiographical account of her time there. It was distinguished from other "tell-all" memoirs by virtue of her writing, which incorporated various stylistic effects, including the use of taped conversations, arguably one of the first times such a technique had been used in a novel. She also wrote for various publications, including The Village Voice and New York Woman.
Viva incorporated the use of video tapes into her second book The Baby. These tapes were later released by her former husband, video artist Michel Auder, as Chronicles: Family Diary in three parts.
She was the narrator for Carla Bley's 1971 experimental jazz composition Escalator over the Hill.
Viva was one of the early pioneers in Video art.
During the 1970s Viva was a guest participant in Shirley Clarke's Teepee Video Space Troupe, which she formed in the early 1970s. With husband Michel Auder, she made and kept film diaries which included the birth of her first daughter, Alexandra (Alex) Auder.
Viva married video artist Michel Auder in 1969 and together they had one daughter, Alexandria Auder. She had another child later, out-of-wedlock, the actress Gaby Hoffmann.[2]
She lives in Palm Springs, California, where she paints landscapes.
Interview - "Play It Again Sam" on Archive.org [1]