Björk brings futuristic intimacy to fans with the virtual reality art exhibit, “Björk Digital”
Some may believe that as technology progresses, the more cold and distant it can make everything feel, especially when it comes to music. That is not the case with Björk. Always at the forefront when it comes to musical innovations, Björk recently debuted a digital exhibit that brings you up close and personal with the singer herself.
In a different kind of intimate artist-and-fan experience than, let’s say, a meet and greet or a small live concert, Björk Digital is an avante-garde art exhibit featuring five different virtual reality scenes starring the musical legend. The traveling exhibit made its way to Sydney, Montreal, and Tokyo before landing in the hands of the LA Philharmonic.
It begins in a standing-room area where “Black Lake,” the 2015 music video collaboration with director Andrew Thomas Huang, is projected against two opposing screens. Björk sings while sprawled across Games of Thrones-esque landscapes in an effort to process the post-breakup heartache resulting from her divorce from Matthew Barney.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvyNrneJYTw?feature=oembed
Fashion designer Iris Van Herpen created the armor Björk wears especially for the video — a black, woven metal dress and a 3D laser cut cape which somehow simultaneously resembles translucent seaweed and owl feathers.
In the next room, you are asked to sit on a stool and given a VR headset as you are transported to a 360 view of the same Icelandic beach where Björk first wrote the song “Stonemilker.”
Try not to cry as she stands in front of your face, wailing “Show me emotional respect, I have emotional needs, I wish to synchronize our feelings,” but make sure to admire how striking her yellow Michael Van Der Ham dress looks against the panorama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQEyezu7G20?feature=oembed
Björk once described this song as if having a shape, it is “sort of like a circle that just goes on forever.”
The next few VR experiences are more complex — in “Mouth Mantra,” you’ll find yourself inside of Björk’s very mouth, with front row tickets to her teeth and uvula (that fleshy, hanging thing that is always mistaken for tonsils). Is there anything more freakishly intimate than being inside of the throat of your favorite singer? It feels VERY Innerspace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIhLCXmrCm8?feature=oembed
In both “Family” and “Notget,” Björk’s virtual reality avatars make your acquaintance, the latter dancing feverishly amid ocean floor debris, almost appearing like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Finally, the exhibit ends with a chill out room where you can view Björk’s incredible videography in its entirety, like the Michel Gondry-directed “Army of Me” or Spike Jonze’s “Oh So Quiet.”
Whether you’re a hardcore Björk fan or simply fascinated with VR technology, Björk Digital is an experience like no other. If you’re in LA, you can catch it at Magic Box at the Reef before it leaves June 4th.
