Ever wanted to step into someone else’s heartbreak? This probably doesn’t at first sound entirely enticing, but if you’ve already listened to Björk’s 2015 album, Vulnicura, you’ve certainly done so musically, and now you’ll be able to get a more full-bodied experience of it.
The album traced the deterioration of her relationship with Matthew Barney and the grief thereafter, chronologically, over the course of six songs, followed by three more songs signifying some form of liberation from the grief process. Vulnicura tracks “Stonemilker” and “Mouth Mantra” already had VR videos made for them, and Andrew Thomas Huang’s “Black Lake” debuted at Björk’s otherwise-panned MoMA retrospective on a massive screen, displayed in a padded habitat of speakers. And now, with the debut of the Björk Digital exhibit at Carriageworks in Sydney, Variety reports that the artist plans to create videos for the remaining songs on the album — the first, “Notget,” which is still a work-in-progress, is currently on display in the Sydney exhibition.
HTC Vive, who’re presenting the exhibit alongside Björk, said that the technology involved comprises “high resolution 3D scans, on-location holostudio, motion capture and videogrammetry along with real-time special audio design.” According to Variety, the videos/experiences will all at some point be available for download on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Gear VR and apps for iOS and Android. (Thankfully, this is all coming after the release of the album, unlike Biophilia, where the music seemed to need to fight for attention between the dense concept and buzz over the apps). The exhibit itself will also be traveling Tokyo, London, Paris and Houston.
Björk shared her thoughts on what VR technology can bring to artistry (and porn) with the Guardian:
The older I get the more I understand what is special about how we experience music. It’s either one-on-one, or thousands of people at a festival where you lose yourself. It’s not intellectual, it’s impulsive. Virtual reality is a natural continuity of that. It has a lot of intimacy. As a musician to be intimate is really important. If you want to express certain details, it’s an opportunity to do that. It’s no coincidence that the porn industry has embraced virtual reality. The penetration is really intimate. It’s really exciting to place to be.