Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.11.2016, Qupperneq 29

29The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 17 — 2016
to explore the territory of the hu-
man body,” Andrew says. “She is a
fantastic performer and amazing
to look at. I love to observe the way
other collaborators of hers have
used her image and performance
as a medium to explore the music.”
Björk’s work has always had an
intensely visual side, from music
videos early in her career with in-
novative young directors like Mi-
chel Gondry, Chris Cunningham
and Spike Jonze, to her current
touring exhibition Björk Digital,
which Andrew has played a huge
role bringing into creation. He
began work with the famed musi-
cian with the pulsing, quaking,
erupting video for “Mutual Core,”
from her 2011 album ‘Biophilia’.
The collaboration continued in
2015 when the Museum of Modern
Art in New York commissioned
Andrew for the top floor of the
Björk retrospective; the video for
“Black Lake” from ‘Vulnicura’ was
born.
In Björk Digital, Andrew, with
the co-creative direction of Björk
and James Merry, has assembled
what is—at the time of writing—a
collection of six fully immersive
viewer experiences from ‘Vulni-
cura’, Björk’s latest album. Five of
them use VR headsets and head-
phones to isolate the viewer in
his or her own virtual world, one-
on-one with Björk. One argument
against overactive involvement in
our virtual identities is that it dis-
connects us from the real world.
Virtual reality, in a way, brings
that argument full circle. Walking
away from the Björk Digital exhi-
bition one feels the pain of heart-
break and the solace of resolution;
empathy is enhanced rather than
subtracted.
Reality in motion
Over the course of the exhibition’s
global tour, its developers are ac-
tively working to better under-
stand, establish and develop the
VR technology. It’s clear that we
are amidst a work in progress; the
sixth and final track of the exhibi-
tion, “Family,” is a far cry from the
first, “Black Lake.” “The evolution
of the technology and the music
together is a powerful statement,”
Andrew says regarding the exhibi-
tion. “It shows that here is an artist
who is willing to be emotionally
vulnerable, and daring enough to
pioneer this new technology which
is a very vulnerable act in itself.”
Though our use of technol-
ogy is embedded daily practice, a
lot about our relationship with it
remains unexplained. The mar-
riage of virtual reality with music
has implications not only for how
we experience music, but how we
create it as well. Andrew hints at
future work with Björk on her up-
coming album, which she is in the
process of creating. “A lot of film-
makers, myself included, make
work that is time-based. With mu-
sic, VR has the opportunity to open
up where we hear sounds, how
big or small is the sound is, how
near or far, can we walk through
it? Does it go over us, does it go
around us…” Andrew says. “There
are exciting possibilities of spa-
tially recorded audio.”
What’s then is now
One of Andrew’s big influences
right now is the artist Jon Rafman.
Rafman is known for his works
exploring and acknowledging the
disappearing boundaries between
the virtual and the real. One of
his more widely known pieces is
an ongoing project called ‘9 Eyes’,
in which he collects images from
Google Street View cameras that
show shocking, and often comical,
bites of reality as seen through
the “nine eyes” of Google’s Street
View fleet. Referencing Rafman,
Andrew explains that “we often
think of technology as enabling
us to do things, but what he really
thinks is that our consciousness is
primed, is ready for the technology
before it exists.”
Technology as a term has a me-
tallic ring to it, one that reverber-
ates with feelings of something
“futuristic—something separate
from human agency, robotic,
without desire. “Technology does
enable us,” Andrews reminds us,
“but that’s because there is a hu-
man desire and intention to use it
in the first place.” In the end, the
seemingly fantastical creations
of the virtual world are as much
about the future as they are about
the present. “But what is reality?”
asks the gnomelike scientist in
the opening lines of Stanley Wein-
baum’s story. “All is dream, all is
illusion; I am your vision as you
are mine.”
Culture
“The Icelandic Museum of Rock 'n' Roll is as
eccentric in its telling as the tale it celebrates.”
David Fricke, Rolling Stone.
The museum is located in Keflavík
only 5 minutes away from
Keflavík International Airport.
Open daily from 11am - 6pm

For more go to rokksafn.is
Visit Iceland's largest music museum and enjoy our history
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spend time in our soundlab, cinema, karaoke booth, gift store,
exhibitions or simply grab a cup of coee at our café (free wifi!).
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