A new exhibition at Somerset House allows visitors to enter virtual reality with Björk as she sings songs from her new album “Vulnicura.”In “Björk Digital,” which runs through October 23, fans of the Icelandic singer can see four 360-degree virtual reality music videos from the upcoming VR version of the album, as well as the app created for her previous album “Biophilia.” There is also a cinema showing the best of her other music videos from auteurs of the genre such as Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, as well as Alexander McQueen, and “Black Lake,” the two-channel video commissioned by MoMA for their recent retrospective of the singer’s work.For the most part, these works are a triumph. VR technology might be a bit of an art world gimmick at the moment (Somerset House’s last exhibition, “Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick,” also featured a virtual reality piece), but Björk’s use of it for the most part transcends this faddishness. This is the case particularly with “Notget,” in which the singer’s body is made up of neon lines and shapes that one can walk through, dispersing them around the viewer’s body. Also of note is “Mouth Mantra,” which positions the viewer within a distorted version of Björk’s mouth as she sings the eponymous song, creating a dark beguiling piece that made me wish Samuel Beckett was still around to create works in VR.Although each piece in itself is definitely worth a look — if nothing else, for sheer awe and for the fantastic surround sound (despite the cinema being closed during the press view, it is easy to imagine how awesome it would be to hear the hits in such an immersive sound environment) — it is difficult to call this collection of work an exhibition. Set within the bowels of Somerset House, no effort has been made to disguise the fact that the rooms featuring the work used to be the classrooms of King’s College London, resulting in the curious impression of an unusually Björk-focused grad show or science fair. It lacks even the most rudimental look of an exhibition, suggesting that we only heard about this show last month not because we were being kept in suspense but because it has been negotiated at the last minute.Then again, perhaps that is the point. Björk has tried to create a series of microworlds with each piece, and in having the works placed in such inauspicious surroundings, these worlds are certainly made more effective. The transformative effect is reminiscent of the first time any of us heard that unique voice and were drawn into the eccentric world of Björk Guðmundsdóttir.“Björk Digital” runs through October 23 at Somerset House.
↧