Björk
8th March – 7th June 2015
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019, United States
MoMA presented Björk, a retrospective dedicated to the multifaceted work of the singer, composer, and musician, from 8th March to 7th June 2015. Björk offered an experience of music in many layers, with instruments, a theatrical presentation, an immersive sound experience, a focused audio guide, and related visualizations—from photography and music videos to new media works. The exhibition drew from more than 20 years of the artist’s daring and innovative career, beginning with her eight full-length albums and multiple collaborations with directors, photographers, designers, artists, and other experimental practitioners, and culminating in a new, immersive music and film experience commissioned by MoMA. The exhibition was conceived and organised by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator at Large at MoMA and Director of MoMA PS1, and made possible by a partnership with Volkswagen of America.
The product of a close collaboration between Mr. Biesenbach and Björk, the exhibition brought together a chronology of sounds, videos, objects, instruments, costumes, and images that express the artist’s overarching project: her music. Chronologically, the exhibition began with the release of Björk’s first mature solo album, Debut, in 1993, and proceeds through her career up to her most recent work in 2015, including a new video and music installation commissioned especially for the Museum, Black Lake (which also appears on her new album, Vulnicura).
“An uncompromisingly original and highly accomplished auteur and solo artist in her composing, singing, and music, Björk is notably open to collaboration and interpretation of her work, extending even into education and audience participation. Over the decades she has also developed a highly collaborative practice to visualize and express her music and lyrics. Working with photographers, film- and video-makers, designers, architects, craftsmen, and inventors, she crosses over into all categories of high and low culture, digital and analog, into most creative fields.” - Mr. Biesenbach in 2015.