‘Bjork Digital’ Virtual-Reality Art Exhibition Arrives in Los Angeles … – Variety

Bjrk is in Manhattan for the time being, but her avatar showed up in Los Angeles Friday as a surprise guest at a press confab to preview Bjrk Digital, a virtual-reality art exhibition thats having its west coast premiere in downtown L.A. through June 5.

Woo-woo! exulted an enthusiastic Bjrk, waving her arms after one of a handful of reporters inside the exhibits host venue, the Magic Box at the Reef, inquired whether the colorful, surreal image being seen on screen via Skype was really a live representation of Bjrk. (Director/collaborator Andrew Thomas Huang, who was present in the flesh, assured the assembled that her avatar was indeed a live motion-capture feed.)

Part of the idea of this project, said Bjork, has to move with the exhibition in as simple a way as possible the fact that it was just headsets that you put in an empty room, and the magic all happens inside the headsets. So we on purpose put nothing on the walls. Bjrk Digital has been exhibited in a few cities worldwide, but the L.A. engagement represents only its second installation in the U.S., following an American premiere in Houston last December.

My intention also is to reach intimacy with the listeners, and to show that there are so many different ways of being intimate, she said. And one of them is the VR. In certain ways its distant for sure, but in certain ways its even more intimate than a concert and even more intimate than a CD. That can be attested to by attendees who experience Bjrks in theirs, either as a realistic 2D figure or a computerized 3D animation.

Ushers shepherd ticketholders in small groups from room to room, which offer increasingly immersive experiences. The first room puts a virtual toe in the water, as patrons spend a few minutes playing around with a Biophilia app on iPads. Then the show really gets underway in a space where a video for Black Lake or two separate but closely related videos, actually can be seen on a pair of ultra-wide screens on opposite sides of the darkened room, which is decked out with 50 surround speakers.

Then begin the VR experiences, at first in 2D. Stonemilker, Quicksand, and Mouth Mantra all unfold in rooms with 24 stools each, allowing everyone to spin in a circle, at will, to take in 360-degree views of Bjrk by the Icelandic seaside, or in a starfield or from inside of her body. Mouth Mantra was filmed inside her mouth, offering a tongues-eye-view perspective of what Jonah or Pinocchio might have felt like, albeit with trippy special effects turning her teeth into swirly dominoes. (Warning: its during the literally cheeky Mouth Mantra that virtual-reality virgins may be likeliest to feel a little queasy.)

The climax of the exhibition comes as patrons are herded into two-person booths for a pair of 3D virtual reality videos, Family and Notget, this time standing up, with the headsets tethered overhead to keep you from wandering too far or bumping into your stallmate.

After that comes the last experience: a room with a lot of floor pillows and a two-hour loop of Bjrks older MTV-style videos. Even her earliest video work was groundbreaking, but watching something in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio after whats come before is a little like leaving Wonderland and settling down in front of a kinescope.

Actually, theres one more unofficial room: the merch space, a paradise for anyone who wants to pick up posters, T-shirts, deluxe vinyl, or, especially, her new 34 Scores book of sheet music for piano, organ, harpsichord or celeste, currently available only at the exhibition.

With the score book coming out now, thats also another side of me in which Im trying to be even more intimate with people, Bjrk explained. They can stay at home and play their piano and sing along with my songs with their loved ones, which we sort of do a lot in Iceland, especially after a couple of drinks or maybe its more screaming than singing, actually.

Bjrk Digital is being presented in conjunction with the L.A. Philharmonic, which is bringing her in to do a sold-out, one-off show at Disney Hall on May 30. There wont be any screens at that show, just reality-reality, she explained.

I kind of am very fond of extremes, as you probably noticed, she said. So thats going to be a 32-piece orchestra and me singing, and theres going to be no electronics; I decided to have no visuals, so its just all about the ears. And then Im going to come back in July with Arca, with a 15-piece orchestra for the opening night of the FYF Festival in Exposition Park on July 21 and were going to perform sort of stompers, if you will. Thats going to have a lot of visuals and surprises and special effects and more celebrational and outdoorsy and festive.

Shes spending the year performing in three different styles or settings, not counting the digital exhibition. I do these orchestra shows, which I feel are very intimate, to sing for two hours with just the strings, which is actually double harder and double more intimate because I cant really hide behind anything. Its very naked. And then I also really enjoy especially doing those festivals with Arca, where we play more of my old songs and its kind of more of a communal experience where you can lose yourself. Bjrk has also toured as a DJ, representing another side of me, which is music nerd. Ive got a pretty big record collection, and Im doing four-hour-long sets where I will start with world music or classical music and itll be a journey and usually end in some high-energy R&B bouncing or techno Ive been trying to break it up and not do it always the same way, and stay vulnerable, but also stay excited.

And after all this: I am right now starting to work on my next project. And it probably happens not on earth, partly. I dont want to give too much away, but yeah, probably, mm-hm, she said, chuckling as she cut her virtual revelations short.

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'Bjork Digital' Virtual-Reality Art Exhibition Arrives in Los Angeles ... - Variety